Rose Petals In The Wind
by nekonohime
Summary: Wocky Kitaki and Pearl Fey's daughter, Rosa, is quickly becoming a young woman. What will happen when she starts facing adult issues that her parents will have a hard time coping with? A look into the future lives of the Ace Attorney cast.
1. Prologue

_**Welcome to my new story! This takes place thirteen years after "Every Rose Has Its Thorns", so it may be a good idea to read that first. However, this chapter provides explanation for what is currently happening in the universe of this fic. It isn't really needed for those that already read ERHIT, and can be skipped if you wish to do so.**_

* * *

June 15 2048, 11:00 PM  
Kitaki Mansion

In the hot summer night, the home of the Kitakis was quiet, and not a light was on throughout. Wocky and his wife Pearl were already asleep in their bedroom, as were Plum and Winfred. Their son, William, was also sleeping, but he had fallen asleep with his TV on again as usual. However, in the room of their daughter, Rosa, she had a small lamp turned on on her night stand while she was writing in a notebook. It was a journal that her mother had given her.

"Hello, Journal", She said softly to herself as she wrote, "I guess I'm going to have to start writing in you, huh? Mama gave me to you as a way to get out my feelings. She said it was healthy to do that so you won't have pent up emotions."

Rosa shifted a little in her bed and then continued writing. She decided to write a self introduction, since she thought that was the best thing to start with.

"Anyway, Journal, my name is Rosa Kitaki. I'm 17 years old right now, but my birthday is coming up next month on the 30th. I haven't decided what I want to do for my birthday yet. I really just want to have a quiet dinner. As for my hobbies, I like cooking, gardening, martial arts, reading and writing. I like more thing than this, but I really don't want to keep going describing them all day."

Suddenly, Rosa heard William get up and go to the bathroom. After a few moments, she heard the toilet flush and the sink run water, and then he heard him go back to his room.

"Does he always have to be so noisy when he gets up in the middle of the night?" She said as she shook her head. She picked up her pen and started writing some more.

"I guess I should tell you about my personality. Well, I guess I consider myself a good person, but some people think that I'm really harsh and critical. Sometimes the truth hurts, y'know? I'm not the type of person to just sit back and give people what they want to hear. And if the truth isn't what they want to hear, then so be it."

"I think that's enough of that", Rosa continued. She then turned the page of the notebook and wiped some of the pen ink off of her hands.

"This is a lot easier than I thought it would be", She said.

"OK, what to say next... Oh! How about I introduce you to my family, Journal? I live with my mother, father, brother, grandma and grandpa. My father's name is Wocky Kitaki, but I call him 'Papa'. I think he's a great dad, but he is really overprotective of me and he's embarrassing. However, I can understand why because I was his first child."

Rosa thought about how Wocky always would try to act "cool" in front of her friends and saying how "OG" he was when he was younger, and she would always have to tell him to cut it out.

"Papa is so weird, Journal", She laughed, "But he went through a lot of bad stuff when he was younger. When he was around eighteen or nineteen years old, he got shot by a member of the Rivales Family, a... Uh... Rival family to mine. The name makes it pretty obvious, doesn't it, Journal? Anyway, they took him to the Meraktis Clinic and he tried to get operated on there, but it failed, basically. Long story short, the nurse there, Alita Tiala, plotting to have Papa marry her and wait for him to die and take his inheritance."

Rosa then turned and looked out the window. For a long time, she felt a great grudge toward her "Almost Mama" ever since she was a little kid, but when later on she found out that Alita had a change of heart, she started to feel bad for her. She wished that things would have turned out better for her, since Tiala was executed thirteen years ago. However, she knew that she had to pay for her crimes and that Los Angeles' court system was very harsh.

"Journal", She spoke again as she was writing, "I think that's enough about Papa. My mother, on the other hand, is a lot different than him. Her name is Pearl Fey. I call her 'Mama'. Mama is very poised and refined. I always wanted to be like her. She always gives me very good advice and keeps Papa in check whenever he does something embarrassing. Like Papa, though, she had some issues in her past. Her mother, who is my Gramma Morgan, she wanted her to be the Kurain Village master because she wanted to reclaim her place back into the 'main family'."

"But since Gramma Morgan got put in prison for being a murder accomplice and trying to frame my cousin, Mystic Maya, things worked out for Mama and she didn't have to end up being a pawn in that plan."

Rosa started to get sad when she thought about how evil her grandmother was, so she decided to move on and write about something else.

"Now", She continued, "The next family members I want to talk about are my Gramma Plum and my Grandpops Winfred. They are Papa's parents and it is their house that I live in. They didn't want Mama and Papa to leave the mansion because they wanted Papa to keep it in the family."

"Grandpops, he's a very sweet old man. I'm really shocked that he used to be a mafia leader, and a pretty famous one around here at that. He got my family out of that business because of Papa. He wanted him to have a better life and he wanted to make clean, honest money to pay for his redone operation. That's why he opened up the Kitaki's Bakery. Now, Grandpops retired from being the manager and passed it on to Papa."

"Gramma Plum, on the other hand... Wow. She is a very strong willed woman for her age. She even taught me how to use the katana in her broom! Isn't that amazing, Journal?"

Rosa began to remember the first time Plum showed her how to use the katana, and Rosa almost broke it.

"But... The first time was really not the best. Later on, though, I got better. Gramma also taught me how to cook and garden. I feel like I'm better at those things that the katana."

Rosa laughed again and turned to another blank page in the journal. She was really starting to get into writing it.

"Well, I talked about Gramma Morgan earlier. I have met her before... Behind a glass wall in the visitors' room of the state prison. My opinion of her, well... She comes off as pretty cold to me, even though she says she has made amends with Mama. However, I still can't shake the bad feeling I have for her after learning about what she did to Mama."

"My Great Auntie Misty, she was the Kurain Village master until she left the village after a scandal involving the DL-6 Incident... Well, that's what Mama told me, anyway. Mama wasn't even born then, Mystic Maya was like two years old and Mystic Mia (My other cousin) was twelve. So, they were all too young at the time to know what was really going on. Great Auntie Misty passed away when she was murdered by Mr. Armando..."

Rosa knew of Diego Armando, also known as Godot, from hearing stories from Pearl and Maya. She felt very sorry for him that he got poisoned by her aunt, Dahlia Hawthorne. He became a prosecutor to get revenge on Phoenix because he could not save Mia from being killed by Redd White. He killed Misty because at the time, she was channeling Dahlia and he stabbed her in a fit of rage.

"Poor Mr. Armando... Fate is so cruel."

Rosa shook her head in sadness and continued.

"But, the times that Mystic Maya or Mama channeled Great Auntie Misty for me, she was a very nice woman, and she was worlds different than Gramma Morgan. She was so nice and kind, unlike my bitter old hag of a grandmother."

"Now..."

The young woman sighed and started to write about the next family member on her list.

"... Journal... Would you believe me when I said that one of my aunts was a serial killer? Well, she is one. Dahlia Hawthorne. She is Mama's older sister and Auntie Iris' twin. She caused so much pain in many people's lives. She killed two innocent men, poisoned Mr. Armando and attempted to kill Mr. Wright and Mystic Maya. I understand now that she had serious issues of abandonment and being unloved, but..."

Rosa sighed. Just because Auntie Dahlia had a very rough childhood, didn't mean she had to take it out on everyone.

"I haven't seen Auntie Dahlia's channeled spirit, since she is pretty much forbidden to be because of how dangerous she is. But, I would like to talk to her at least once to see how she really is."

She then thought about something that Phoenix Wright had said to her once.

"Mr. Wright... He said that some of my behavior and mannerisms reminded him if her. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"On the other hand, there is my Auntie Iris. She is Auntie Dahlia's twin, like I said before. However, she is her polar opposite. She's a bit soft and kind of a pushover, to be totally frank. Mama did always say that she lets people walk all over her. I really hope she grows a backbone, eventually. She's fifty five years old now, so she really should."

Rosa ran her hands through her hair, thus dropping her pen on the floor.

"Oops... Better get that", She said as she bent down and grabbed it.

"OK, now where was I..? Oh right, Auntie Iris. Despite me saying that though, Journal, Auntie Iris is very sweet and when I go to Hazakura Temple to visit her sometimes she braids my hair. Sister Bikini is sweet too. I feel really sorry about her back problems. She's as old as Grandpops so we have to help her out a bit too when I go over there."

Rosa decided to now lay on her belly because her back was starting to hurt from sitting in the same position for too long.

"That's better, now... Oh! Journal, did you know that my my cousin, Mystic Mia, she was Mr. Wright's mentor? She also was the one that had Dahlia Hawthorne put to death because she found her out for her crimes. However, she was murdered by Redd White, as I may I have stated before. Thanks to Mama and Mystic Maya channeling her, I have gotten a chance to speak to her. She is so wise and seems all knowing. If there was anyone else besides Mama that gave me good advice, it would be Mystic Mia."

"Lastly, Journal, there is Mystic Maya. She is so funny! Mystic Maya always seems to be in a good mood and is very laid back for a village leader. She always says I'm cute, but she seemed really disappointed that I didn't like burgers. Sometimes I think her and Mr. Wright have a thing for each other, but they both deny it pretty hard. Well, you never know what would happen!"

Rosa laughed to herself again and she thought about how silly they act together sometimes. She then yawned.

"Should I write more, or should I stop?" She said to herself.

"Hmm... Maybe I should at least write about my friends now. I have work tomorrow, so I might as well finish off with this."

She then turned another page and went on to write once again.

"My first friend, Journal, is Gloria Giorni. I've known her my entire life, so I consider her to be like my big sister. We always do stuff together and we share just about everything. However, ever since she met her new boyfriend, Al, she's been brushing me off a lot and pretty much ignores me now."

Rosa hangs her head in sadness, feeling like she lost something dear to her.

"Oh, well, maybe she'll come around again someday. I know Gloria still cares about me... She's just caught up in being in love."

She grimaced at the thought of that word. Rosa could not imagine herself being in love at all. She thought the whole thing was just silly.

"Fee Tobaye... Wow, she is so amazing. She's only fifteen years old, and she's already like a genius with the violin. Well, considering her dad is the famous piano player Machi Tobaye and her mom is THE Laniah O'Hara..."

Rosa sighed. Laniah O'Hara was a singer that she really admired, besides Lamiroir (Otherwise known as Thalassa Gramayre). And the fact that she is friends with her daughter was really amazing to her.

"Though, Fee has to go to practices and recitals a lot, so I don't really see her that often. I really hope she'll be able to make it to my birthday dinner."

"Then there's Klaus Gavin. Wouldn't you believe that his father was in that old band The Gavinners? Wait... Maybe I can, since the word GAVIN is in the band name. Well, Klaus is really into music and scientific stuff all at the same time, which is weird. He's also kind of a ladies' man and he likes to have parties. He actually wanted to plan my party, but I told him no, but he is still insisting on it. At one point, Klaus actually... He had a crush on me or something. It was awkward. But we were like in middle school at the time. So yeah. I think he got over me after I said I didn't feel the same way he did."

"And finally... There's... Eww, do I even consider this airheads my friends? The freaking Belmont Triplets- Bambi, Bunny and Belina. God, they are so annoying. It sucks that I have to put up with them all the time because Papa is friends with their dad. And now he's given them a job at the bakery and I have to train them tomorrow. May the Steel Samurai save my soul."

Rosa then started to imitate their stereotypical valley girl accents.

"They are, like, the most annoying girls ever! Like, oh my god, they fawn over 'hot' men all the time, and they, like, talk about shopping and clothes too!"

She then snapped out of it and frowned.

"... Gag me with a freaking spoon."

Rosa looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost midnight.

"Oh, man", She wrote, "I think it's time for me to go to bed now, Journal. I'll write in you some other time, OK?"

She then signed her name and put the journal away.

"Man, I almost spent an hour writing in that thing", She said, "I have work tomorrow. I really hope I don't be late for work tomorrow. Papa will surely not be happy."

After that comment, Rosa closed her eyes and went to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1

June 16, 6:00 AM

Kitaki Mansion

The next morning was rather sunny and warm. The average temperature in Los Angeles this time of the year was sixty eight degrees Fahrenheit, but it certainly felt hotter than that. Rosa woke up to the sound of her alarm. She turned it off and got out of bed.

"Ugh... Is it morning already?" She said as she went into her bathroom to take a shower.

Rosa was a relatively attractive girl, considering that she comes from the Fey family bloodline. Her hair was chestnut brown, ending at the middle of her back with the ends swept up. Her face looked just like Wocky's but her features were appropriately more feminine. She also had the 'Kitaki Birthmark', dark lines on her face that look like the whiskers of a fox. She stood at five feet and six inches tall and having a slender, feminine physique.

William, Rosa's fifteen year old brother, starting banging on her bedroom door. He was clearly not happy about her taking a shower right now, since he was standing there in a towel. William had the same build as Wocky at that age, being five feet and eight inches tall, but he took after Pearl in terms of his hair color and looks.

"YO!" He shouted, "Whaddaya doin' in there? I gotta shower! I ain't goin' to school smellin' like ass!"

"Shut up you bubblehead!" Rosa shouted back through the roaring sound of the water, "I'm almost done washing my hair, so just hold your horses!"

William pouted and walked back to the other bathroom. Wocky heard what was going on upstairs so he went there to find out what was going on.

"What are you doing, Willy?" He asked his son when he saw him walking down the hallway in his towel, "You're getting water all over the floor!"

"I was jus' tellin' Rosa to hurry the hell up so I can BATHE."

"Well, you're gonna have to wait, son. You know how girls are with showers."

"Yeah, whatever you say, Pops."

Soon, the water in Rosa's bathroom had ceased to make a sound. She stepped out and put her hair in one towel and wrapped her body in another. Opening the door, Rosa stepped out and did her hair and makeup before getting dressed.

"_Willy__ really__ needs __to __stop __being __an __ass__"_, She thought as she headed downstairs to have breakfast, _"__He __literally__ has__ no __patience__ at __all__. __It __drives__ me __insane__!"_

When she got to the kitchen, Rosa was greeted by Wocky, Pearl, Plum and Winfred.

"Mornin', Rosie", Wocky said as he kissed his daughter on the forehead, "Did you get enough sleep last night? You've been pretty slow this morning."

"Yeah", Rosa responded, "I was just up late writing in the journal Mama gave me."

"I'm glad", Pearl said, "I've been keeping a journal for years. I find it to be a good way to express your feelings. Also, it's fun to look back on the things you've written to see how much you've grown."

"I guess so", Rosa responded in a flat tone. She then remembered that she was going to get her acceptance letter to Ivy University soon. She had filled out an application form and wrote an essay for the literature department there. Ever since she learned that Dahlia had been a student there (sort of), she thought it would be interesting to see how it would be. Plus, her interest in the subject also helped.

"I hope I did well on my application to Ivy University", She said as she changed the subject, "I spent a lot of time filling that damn thing out!"

"Rosa!" Pearl scolded, "What did did I tell you about swearing?"

"Sorry", Her daughter apologized as looked down grumpily, "I'm just... Kind of in a irritable mood right now."

Plum replied, "I think you'll get into that school! I know you have what it takes, Rosa!"

"I hope so too, Gramma. That effort better pay off."

"I don't think they'd let a girl like YOU in!" William scoffed, "You're so weird!"

"I oughta deck you for sayin' that!" Rosa said as she balled up her fist and grabbed her brother's collar.

"Hey!" Winfred said sternly as he walked to the table with his plate, "You two stop fighting! We're supposed to be eating at the table, not having a squabble!"

Rosa let go of William as she said, "Sorry, Grampops."

"Let's just eat in peace, alright?" Wocky said.

"Okay, Okay!" His son said as he went to sit down with his pancakes. Rosa did the same.

After a few moments of silence, Wocky decided to speak up again.

"So", He asked Rosa, "You ready for work today?"

"Not really", She responded, "Because I have to train those stupid Belmont triplets!"

Wocky laughs at her comment and says, "Yeah, I don't blame you. Barry Belmont is my friend though, and I was doing him a favor by letting his girls work for the shop. I think he was mostly trying to get them out of his hair..."

"But why do you want ME to train them?" She asked irritably, "Why couldn't you have gotten Ralph or Frankie or even Jerry to train them? I've only been working at the shop for like two years!"

"Well", Her father responded, "I thought that the triplets would be more comfortable with you, considering that you guys are close in age and all."

Rosa sighs and says nothing while she continues eating her breakfast. About an hour or so later, everyone started getting up from the table and were about to do their duties for the day. William heads to the bus stop for school, Wocky and Rosa carpool together to the Kitaki Bakery and Plum, Winfred and Pearl stay behind to clean up the dining room table.

June 16, 8:30 AM

Kitaki Bakery

The father and daughter duo finally arrived at the Kitaki Bakery. It was a quaint little bakery that was nestled in between other businesses on the street that it was located on. Without the nicely decorated and bold signs, it would be a bit difficult to spot. Within the past twenty two years, the bakery has drummed up quite a decent profit. Everyone always talked about how delicious everything offered was, and word of mouth got around quickly.

"Another busy day ahead of us", Wocky said as he turned the key into the door so he could go inside, "Looks like the others haven't showed up yet. Usually Ralph is here to open up shop for me."

"Maybe he's running late today?" Rosa asked.

"I guess, Rosie", Her father answered.

When they got inside the main area of the bakery, Wocky instructed Rosa for today's duties.

"Now, you already know that I'm gonna have you train the triplets today, right? Well, the first thing I want you to do with them when they get here is to have them observe you tending to customers."

Rosa groaned in frustration and said, "This is not going to be easy, Papa..."

"Just bear with me, sweetheart. I know those three are a pain in the ass, but I'm doin' Barry a favor here. Plus, we were runnin' a bit short on staff."

The young woman sighed and walked over to the counter and put her apron on. She began to check the display case with all the baked goods in it and the cash register.

"Everything looks good here, Papa", She said.

Wocky nodded and replied, "Good. Now, if you need me, I'll be in my office. The rest of the staff should be coming soon."

And with that, he walked across the shop front and went inside his office. Rosa sighed as she stood behind the counter waiting for everyone else to show up.

"_This__ job__ can__ get__ so __boring __sometimes__"_, She thought, _"__Especially __when __business __is __slow__. __And__ it__ definitely__ has __been__ slow __for__ the __past __several__ days__."_

"Mornin', Rose!"

Rosa looked up startled after being distracted by her own thoughts. She saw the head baker, Ralph, walk in through the door. She referred to him and all the other workers as "Uncle", since all of them were Wocky's close friends.

"Oh, good morning, Uncle Ralph", She responded, "I was just waiting for you to show up. Are the others coming as well?"

"Yeah, they're on their way."

"You're a little late this morning. Something wrong?"

"Nah, Rose, I'm doing fine. I got stuck in the traffic around Pasadena."

"It's quite alright. I guess I'll wait for everyone else to show up then."

"Now, onto working on that wedding cake order that we got yesterday. And good luck with the triplets today, Rose! You're gonna need it!"

Ralph went back into the kitchen after he said that. Soon, one by one, Rosa watched all of the other workers come in. However, there was no sign of the Belmont triplets.

"Oh, they're late!" Rosa said angrily as she headed to her dad's office, "I'm gonna go tell Papa to-"

"ROSIE!"

The Kitaki daughter stopped in her tracks when she heard those high pitched, shrieky voices. She turned her head slowly and reluctantly and saw her trainees running in towards the counter. The triplets were all blonde and had blue eyes, and they all decided that they wanted match each others' hairstyles and clothing at all times. They were about the same height and stature as Rosa.

"Rosie!" The oldest triplet in red, Bambi, squealed, "We are, like, so sorry we're late!"

"What happened?" Rosa asked her, trying very hard not to sound annoyed.

"We, like, overslept!"

The middle triplet that wore blue, Bunny, butted in with, "Like, it was YOUR fault that we overslept! You, like, forgot to set the alarm clock last night!"

"No I didn't! Belina was, like, the one that forgot!"

Belina, the green clad and youngest triplet, pouted and said tearfully, "You're, like, totally lying!"

They continued to squabble amongst themselves until Rosa shouted, "SHUT UP!"

"Eep!" All three of the girl squealed.

"Now", Rosa said angrily, "I don't care how or why you were late. The point is, you were late, which does not look good on us."

"Oh, we're sorry!" Belina said, "We're just, like, newbies, you know?"

"Yes, I know", Rosa replied as she started to calm down a bit, "Why don't we just start your training now?"

The triplets shook their head in excitement.

"OK, the first thing Papa wants me to do with you guys is to watch me take care of customers. Maybe I'll let you try on some of them. Got it?"

"Yes", Bunny said, "We, like, totally understand!"

"Great! Let me know when we get any customers. I'm going to talk to Papa about some things, so I'll be right back."

While the rest of the bakery crew was working in the kitchen and the triplets stood at the front waiting for customers, Rosa walked to the door of her father's office and walked inside.

Wocky looked up from his desk work and asked, "Somethin' wrong, Rosie? They gettin' on your nerves already?"

"They were late, Papa!" Rosa spouted angrily, "And they were trying to give me a really bullshit excuse!"

The shop owner put his palm over his face in frustration. He knew that Barry's daughters were not the brightest bulbs in the box.

"All I gotta say is, they better get their act together as soon as possible if they want to make it around here. I don't tolerate my employees screwing up and fooling around."

"Let's just face it, Papa- They're going to end up being lousy workers."

"Ah, Rosie, I don't think we should count them out just yet. They've only just started here, y'know? You should have seen me when I first started out here. I was a mess."

Rosa knew how wild her father was around her age. She couldn't really believe that he had changed that much since then.

Wocky put his hand on his daughter's shoulder and said, "Jus' keep an eye on 'em, alright? If things get really out of hand, just let me know. I'll straighten them out."

"Sure thing, Papa", Rosa said as she walked out of the office and back to her station with the triplets.

Upon returning to the store front, she sees Frankie taking care of a customer, someone that she knew very well.

"Mr. Justice!" The girl said to him.

The man turned his head at her and waved with a smile. His name was Apollo Justice, a friend to the family and Wocky's former attorney during his trial. The forty four year old ex-greenhorn was now the owner of his own law firm, Justice & Co. Law Offices. He occasionally stopped by the bakery for a coffee and a bagel on his way to his office.

"How have you been, Rosa?" Apollo said, "It's been a while since I've seen you last."

"I'm doing alright", Rosa said to him, "Is the law firm doing alright?"

"As well as it ever could be. I haven't gotten a case in a few weeks. I'm a bit concerned."

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Justice! The bakery hasn't been getting that much business, either. I'm sure this is just a slow period."

"Perhaps. Well, I must be on my way now. Trucy is going to help me rearrange my files today."

Trucy Wright was the adopted daughter of Phoenix Wright and also the younger sister of Apollo. She was also the heir to a magic show troupe called the Gramayres, whom her true father, Zak, her mother, Thalassa and her uncle, Valant, were all members of. Trucy was now thirty seven years old and made a living keeping the Gramayre legacy alive with her fabulous magic tricks.

"Oh, tell her I said hello, Mr. Justice! Take care!"

After Apollo left, Rosa turned her head to the counter and looked at Frankie.

"Frankie", She asked him, "Where are the triplets?"

Frankie hesitated for a bit.

"Uh... I have no idea. Nobody was mannin' the front so I took over till you came back."

"Nnngh..."

Rosa headed to the door frame of the kitchen to see her "students" gossiping amongst themselves.

"Oh, I oughta-"

Suddenly, Ralph came in from the break room and saw the girls goofing off.

"Hey!" He shouted, "Get off your lazy asses! You go back to Rosa in the front now, y'hear?"

The girls jump in fear and they run back off to the front of the store and start looking like they are doing something. Rosa just laughs at them to herself.

"_I__ don__'__t__ know__ what__ I__'__m __going __to__ do__ with__ these __three__", _Rosa thought, _"__They__ have__ a__ whole __lot__ to __learn__. __Well__, __at__ least__ the __rest __of__ the __crew __can__ help__ me __keep __them __in__ check__."_

As she headed back towards the triplets, she heard the front door to the bakery open. Another customer walked towards the counter and the triplets oogled at him due to how handsome he was. Rosa couldn't help but shake her head in disgust.

"Like, oh my god", Belina said, "May, we, like... Take you order? You are, like, so hot!"

Bunny pushed her sister out of the way and said, "No! Like, let ME take your order!"

"No!" Bambi shouted, "I'm, like, the better one here!"

The customer shook his head and laughed arrogantly. Rosa definitely knew that this guy was a ladies' man, and he was eating up all the attention he was getting from the triplets.

"Please, please, ladies", He said, "No need to fight over me! There's plenty to go around."

The triplets giggled at him while Rosa just stood there and watched. The other workers just sighed and went about their business. Normally, when there was a flirtatious customer, Rosa would summon her father or one of the other workers to deal with them. However, since they were busy at the moment, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Hey!" Rosa said to the customer.

The man turned his head and saw Rosa coming towards him to stand beside the triplets.

"Oh ho ho", He chuckled when he saw her, "So, you want to join in on the fun as well?"

"Look", Rosa responded to him in a serious tone, "If you're just going to fool around and not order anything, I'd suggest you take a hike. You're holding up the line! There are other customers waiting, you know!"

The customer just scoffed and said, "Hmph, fine! You're no fun... Don't you even know how to flirt at all? You're quite a bitch, you know that?"

Rosa just gave him a very icy and deadly glare. The man then turned his heel and fled out of the bakery. The triplets just looked at her dumbfounded. They were rather disappointed that their "new friend" just ran off.

"Rosie!" Bambi said with a pout, "Why did you scare him away? You are, like, such a kill joy!"

"Like, why did you have to scare off that hot guy?" Belina asked.

"We were, like, just having fun!" Bunny quipped angrily.

"He was wasting valuable time!" Rosa said, "See, look, there are other customers here waiting to be served."

She saw an old lady walking up to the counter next and told her, "Be right with you, ma'am." Rosa turned her head back to the triplets and continued.

"You're not going to get very far in this business if you just stand around and gossip and lolly gag with the customers all day! Nothing will get done!"

The triplets just shook their heads while Rosa went over to take care of the old lady's order. They started to talk amongst themselves.

"Rosie always ruins our fun!" Bunny whispered, "I thought it was, like, nice to make small talk with the customers."

"I don't know", Bambi responded, "Rosie's always been, like, weird about stuff like this. She's just, like.. A stick in the mud."

"We need to, like, get her to hang out with us more often", Belina said, "I think we, like, need to loosen her up or something."

"That might, like, be a good idea", Bambi agreed, "But... We should, like, just wait until after work."

The girls then went back to work to avoid getting yelled at by Ralph again. He sure was, like, a scary old man.


	3. Chapter 2

June 16, 12:00 PM

Kitaki Bakery

It was now lunchtime for the workers of the Kitaki Bakery. They were all gathered around in the break room eating their lunches and chatting about what had happened so far during the day. Everything was going well, until the Belmont triplets decided to blurt out about what Rosa had done earlier that day.

"Mr. Kitaki!" Belina cried out to her boss, "Rosie, she, like... She scared away a customer!"

"Yeah!" Bunny agreed, "Rosie scared away, like, the hottest guy ever!"

"She is, like, such a prude!" Bambi huffed with a pout to her lips.

Wocky cocked his eyebrow at them, and then turned his head towards Rosa. He was quite concerned that his daughter had displayed such behavior to a customer. He scratched his head and then cleared his throat before he spoke.

"Rosa", He said sternly, "Is this true? Did you scare a customer away? Tell me what happened."

"The customer that came in was a jerk off!" Rosa said angrily, "He called me a bitch! And on top of that, he was distracting these three from getting any work done! He was a total sleaze ball!"

Wocky looked at the three blondes and scolded, "Bambi, Bunny, Belina... You guys better shape up. You don't want me to tell your daddy about this... Do you? He wouldn't like this at all."

"No!" Bunny cried, "Don't tell Daddy! He'll, like, kill us!"

"We're sorry, Mr. Kitaki!" Bambi piped as she tugged on her hair nervously, "We'll, like, listen to you better next time! Promise!"

"What she said!" Belina chimed in as she pointed at her sister.

Their boss sighed heavily and said, "Alright, but you guys better listen to Rosa, OK? She's training you. She's my eyes and ears, and every time you screw up, she's gonna tell me about it."

The girls nodded and stayed quiet after he said that. They didn't want to disappoint him or Rosa.

"Though", Wocky continued, "Rosa did have a good reason for scaring that guy off. He did sound like he was being quite the asshole."

"But the thing is", Belina interrupted, "Rosie is, like, ALWAYS like that with guys, even if they aren't being mean at all!"

Bambi and Bunny nodded in agreement. They had observed Rosa's behavior around for a long time and they had noticed that she was quite harsh with them.

"Yeah, I've known about that for years!" Wocky said with a chuckle, "I think she just does that out of fear... Or maybe she's just being shy."

"I am not!" Rosa shouted sharply as her faced turned intensely red with embarrassment. Wocky always knew how to push her buttons and egg her on.

One of the younger male employees, Allen, added in with his own comment, "But I ain't never seen her act mean to any of us! She's real cool, y'know?"

"I trust you guys", Rosa responded to him, "The guys that I don't trust are the ones that act like jerks and try to screw around with me!"

"Rosie", Bambi said, "If you keep that attitude up... You'll, like, never find a boyfriend."

Rosa glared at her and retorted, "I don't want a boyfriend. I don't need one either, for that matter."

Wocky laughed proudly and patted his daughter on the head. "Ho, ho, that's my girl! You are so independent!"

"_I don't want ANYBODY taking my baby girl away!"_

The triplets frown at Rosa's comment. They are very disappointed and sad that she feels that way about the topic at hand, and they really wanted to help her. However, they knew it would be hard to do so. Bunny sighed and decided to ask a question that she knew might be dangerous for her to answer.

"Rosie... Do you ever, like... You know... Want to fall in love? I mean, like, you'll be really lonely if you keep acting the way you are. It makes me sad."

Rosa's face turns red again and she doesn't utter a word to her whatsoever. Wocky shrugs and scratches is head again meekly. The other workers just fell silent, not knowing what to really say about what was just said.

"I actually remember when Rosa was little", He said as he broke the awkward silence, "She did say she wanted to fall in love. I guess she has changed her opinion since then."

"... I feel like men would only want me for the most shallow of reasons", Rosa quipped bitterly.

"You shouldn't, like, assume things", Bambi said seriously to Rosa, "The time will eventually come and you'll, like, find a guy that doesn't do any of that bad stuff. You gotta find someone that is compatible to you."

"Yeah, whatever", Rosa said as she got up from the table and left the break room. Everyone else in the room fell into a strange silence again. They were unsure of how to deal with Rosa's negative energy. The triplets looked to Wocky as if to say, "Why is she being so negative about this?" Wocky just shrugs at them and he heads out behind her to go back to his office.

June 16

Kitaki Mansion

Meanwhile, Plum, Winfred and Pearl were having lunch out on the back patio. They were just having some small talk about what was going on during the day, when all of a sudden the phone started to ring. Pearl decided to get up to answer it, and much to her surprise, it was Wocky.

"Wocky, what's wrong?" She asked in concern. She wondered if something had happened at work.

"It's about Rosa", The man answered, "One of the customers called her a... Rather rude name, and she basically told them off and scared them out of the shop. But the thing is, she pretty much acts like this with every guy that comes in, no matter what. She's just kinda... Cold."

Pearl sighed. She was well aware of this already. "I talked to Rosa about this, and she said she acts the way she does because she is trying to protect herself from unwanted attention. She doesn't want to get manipulated into something that she doesn't want to do."

"I had a feeling that was the case, Pearl. What do you think we should do?"

"Maybe we should just let things fall into place and see what happens. I don't think Rosa will act like this forever. That would just be silly."

Wocky shrugged and said, "I'll take your word for it, I guess. You're a lot better with this sort of thing than I am, so I trust you. Well, I'll see you later then, hon."

After hanging up, Pearl walked back out to the patio to tell her in laws about what just happened. "That was Wocky... He said that Rosa had some trouble with an unruly customer. Though, he also said that she treats all men in a negative manner. I just told him that we should let things just play out."

Plum sighed and put her teacup down. She began to remember back to when she was younger, where she had acted similarly. "Pearl, I acted the same way when I was that age. It was just a phase- I acted like that because I was just afraid, you know? I eventually got over it, of course."

"Rosa shouldn't be so harsh", Winfred added, "Maybe she should reject their affections a little more softly."

Pearl nodded. "Yes, you're right. I think that would be for the best. Now, why don't we head back inside to clean up? I think that would be a good idea."

"Sure", Plum said with a nod. Everyone then stood up and headed back inside the mansion.

June 16

Kitaki Bakery

Back at the Kitakis' Bakery, Rosa and the triplets were at the front of the store tending to customers. They were still a bit quiet with each other since Rosa's little moment earlier during lunch, and they didn't want to say anything to upset her. After the last customer in the queue had left, Bambi had decided to break the silence between them.

"Rosa, you've been, like, acting a lot grumpier than usual today. Is something wrong?"

Rosa sighed and turned to her coworker. "I'm sorry, Bambi. It's just that I've been really stressed out waiting for my letter from Ivy University. I have no idea if I'm gonna get in or not..."

"Our cousin, like, goes there for fashion marketing", Belina added in.

"I hope you get in", Bunny said with a smile, "It would be, like, a total bummer if you got rejected."

"Thanks, I guess", Rosa responded, "I don't wanna get too negative about this..."

Soon the next customer walked into the bakery. This time it was a girl with black hair tied back in a ponytail and wearing large gold hooped earrings. Rosa recognized her as her childhood friend,Gloria Giorni. As of that time, Rosa's relationship with her had started to get rocky ever since Gloria had started dating her new boyfriend, Al. They started to spend less and less time together because of this, and they started to become distant.

Gloria got up to the counter and faced Rosa. She greeted her with a short "Hello". Rosa in turned replied with, "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Sorry I haven't been able to talk to you lately", Gloria continued, "My love life has kept me busy, as you already know."

"I can clearly see that", Rosa responded. The triplets were standing next to her whispering amongst themselves about how hot Al was.

"Yo", Al decided to butt in with, "I got a question for you, Rosa."

"Yeah, what is it?" Rosa said.

"... Are you single?"

Gloria turns to Al wildly and punches him in the arm while Rosa blushes out of embarrassment. The triplets just giggled at what had happened. Al continued shortly after regaining his composure after getting punched. "I was only asking because the boss got dumped by his girlfriend recently and-"

"Forget it", Rosa interrupted, "I'm not going to get set up on a blind date by someone I barely even know... And, why is your so called 'friend' called 'The Boss' anyway?"

"He's my best friend", Al answered, "I call him 'Boss' because he's technically my boss at work... Well, he's the son of my actual boss, so it makes sense, I guess."

"Sorry, Al, but I'm not interested."

"Oh, Rosa", Gloria laughed, "You're so skittish!"

"Am not!" Rosa shot back angrily with her face still red.

"Al is only trying to help you... You don't have to be such a prude. Come on, Al, let's get out of here."

And with that statement, Gloria and Al headed out of the bakery without ordering anything. Rosa just stands there in defeat and sadness that her lifelong friend had changed so much.


	4. Chapter 3

June 16, 5:00 PM

Kitaki Mansion

Another long, hard day at work was done for Rosa as she walked through the doors of her family's estate. Her shift had ended and Wocky had to stay behind to close up shop at ten o'clock. After what had happened to her that day, Rosa was not feeling all that great, so she was in a rather grumpy mood. Whenever she had a bad day at work, she always found solace in just talking it out with her family and just letting them listen to her rants. When she got to the living room and plopped down on the couch, that's exactly what she did.

"Some douchebag of a customer at work today called me a bitch! Can you believe that?"

"Yes", Pearl responded as she shook her head, "Wocky told me about that when he called earlier."

"So I got up in his face and I gave it back to 'em! He deserved that for what he did to me! Nobody disrespects me!"

"You should have gotten Wocky to take care of that unscrupulous customer", Plum said.

"I know that, Gramma, but I wanted to teach that guy a lesson!"

William snicked with, "You could kill someone with you stare!"

Rosa shot a glare at William and said, "Shut up!"

"Rosa", Pearl scolded, "I know you're upset, but you shouldn't take it out on William."

"I'm sorry Mama", Rosa said as she stood down and her tone of voice went softer. She was often slapped on the wrist by her mother whenever she did something that she considered 'un-ladylike'.

"Anyway", Rosa continued after a brief moment of silence, "You know what happened after that? Gloria came into the shop trying to show off her new boyfriend, Al."

"Oh, I see", Winfred said, "Are you and Gloria still on rocky terms with each other?"

"Pretty much, Grampops... But the dumbest part of it was when Al tried to set me up with one of his friends! He was like, 'Oh, you wanna go out with my friend, The Boss?' And I was like, 'Umm, NO, I don't!' After that, they left. Man, can you believe the nerve of some people?"

"Did Al look like a decent person at least?" Plum asked, "I mean, he wouldn't try to set you up with someone shady if he knew that you were friends with his girlfriend, right?"

"He looked pretty grimy to me!" Rosa said with a very doubtless inflection, "I bet you his friend is just the same! I can't imagine what would happen if I actually let him set me up on a blind date! What a nightmare that would be!"

Everyone frowned at Rosa's comment. Was there ever going to be a time where she didn't have to act so defensive when it came to dating, romance or anything of the sort?

"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, Rosa", Pearl said sternly, "I should know- Your father taught me that. I felt the same way about him upon seeing him. I was very put off, but after I got to know him..."

She laughed softly and went on. "You know what happened after that, of course."

"Mama I realize that", Rosa retorted, "But I got really weird, funky vibes from Al. I don't really trust him."

"I guess I can't argue with that", Pearl responded with a sigh, "But it wouldn't hurt to try to talk to Gloria about what is going on?"

"I'd rather not", Rosa said as she got up from her seat on the couch and went upstairs to her room. Everyone else just sighed in defeat. Sometimes Rosa acted so stubborn...

Rosa walked into her room and immediately went to her desk and turned on her computer. She decided that she wanted to check her messages on her social networking sites and on her instant messaging program, since she hadn't been on them in a while. There were some people that she liked talking to that she met online to converse with when there was nobody else around to talk to. When her computer finished booting up she clicked on the icon for her Internet browser and check her social networking sites.

"_Nothing much going on here",_ She thought as she exited the screen and went back to her desktop. She then went to her instant messaging software and looked to see if there was any activity in the chat room that she was a member on. She was disappointed to see that not that many people were online and that the chat room was rather dead. Rosa sighed and clicked away from the program.

"_Maybe I'll just watch a movie."_

Rosa reached to her DVD collection and picked up the first one that went into her hands. She put it into her computer's disk drive and prepared to sit back and kill about and hour or two. There wasn't much going on tonight anyway.

"_The Steel Samurai movie... I've seen this so many times now but I guess I"ll watch it one more time, I guess."_

The girl sat back and watched as the movie played, getting back memories of watching the show in her childhood. Her favorite character back then was the Pink Princess, because she thought that she was so pretty and that she was lucky that she got to be with the Steel Samurai. She always wished that someone would be her Steel Samurai...

"_Bah, that was such a long time ago! I was just an innocent little kid back then with crazy dreams! I'm more down to earth now!"_

Rosa shook off her thought and went back to watching the film. Not too much longer after that moment something popped onto her screen to alert her of something.

"_What? Who's trying to webcam chat with me?"_

The Kitaki heiress looked at the screen and saw that Klaus Gavin was beckoning her to join him in a conference call. She sighed and paused the DVD.

"_OK, OK, hang on, Klaus!"_

Rosa clicked the button on her screen to accept the call, and the image of a brown haired boy appeared on her screen. He lowered his spectacles to peer at Rosa with his dark bluish green eyes.

"Hello, Rosa", Klaus beamed, "Haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

"Fine", Rosa sighed, "Work was really crazy today, though."

Klaus looked at her in interest. "Oh?"

"Some guy came in at work and harassed me. Then after that, Gloria came in with Al and was basically getting him to set me up on a blind date with one of his friends. How stupid is that?"

"Hmm, she has been acting a lot different since she met Al. Maybe it's because of the fact that Al is in a gang of _Motorradfahrer_."

Rosa tilted her head in confusion. Whenever Klaus said something in German, it usually just went way over her head.

"Umm... What? English please, Klaus!"

Klaus laughed and pushed his glasses back up with his index and middle finger. "Oh, sorry. Just got done talking to my dad in German. Anyway, I meant that Al is in a biker gang."

Rosa's eyes went wide in surprise. This did not sound good to her. Not one bit.

"I didn't know about this", She responded, "Are you sure?"

The boy nodded. "Yep. I've seen him with a group of people with motorcycles while out around town. I haven't seen them do anything bad, and they don't look particularly threatening either."

Rosa sighed of relief. However, she didn't consider herself out of the woods just yet.

"Did you happen to see... 'The Boss'?" She asked carefully.

"Hm?"

"That's who Al tried to set me up with", Rosa answered, "All that he told me was that the son of his boss at work, and that he was his best friend."

Klaus shrugged.

"I have no idea, _Röslein_. All I know about this supposed 'gang' is that there are five people in it. Perhaps the person you are speaking of was the biggest guy I saw. He seemed like boss material to me."

Rosa shuddered at her friend's pet name for her. She really didn't like it when people gave her unnecessary nicknames. However, at this moment she just shook it off and answered to Klaus' statement without thinking, "What did he look like?"

The Gavin son smirked and couldn't help but tease her a little bit. "Getting curious now, _ja_?"

Rose blushed a very deep crimson when he said this and retorted with, "N-No! I just want to make sure that what you're telling me isn't a lie!"

"OK, just relax, Rosa! I was only kidding!" He laughed. He then cleared his throat and continued. "He was tall, with long black hair. Down to his shoulder blades I think. He was wearing pretty much all black, except for his shirt, which was white. He was definitely a fan of leather, with the coat and boots and everything... Well, his pants weren't leather. That would have been weird if they were, though."

His friend began to have a disgusted look on her face. Now she knew that her suspicions of Al's friend sounding like bad news came to light.

"Sounds like a sleaze to me", She said rather bluntly.

Klaus frowned and responded, "Being kinda harsh, aren't you? I saw some girls checking him out, so I don't think he'd be that sleazy."

"Probably because the girls were sleazy too", Rosa spat, "My opinion hasn't changed at all about this guy."

"Then why did you ask me about him, eh?" Klaus teased.

Rosa turned red again and answered in a hostile tone, "I... I wanted to make sure who Al was trying to set me up with wasn't some creep!"

In that instant, she could hear someone in the background on Klaus' end call his name. She then saw him stand up.

"I gotta go", He said as he had his face leaned into the camera preparing to cut it off, "Dad wants me to help him with some stuff."

"Alright, bye, Klaus!" Rosa said with a small wave.

After he signed off, Rosa went back to watching her movie. Boy, was she even more riled up than she was before. She couldn't really concentrate on the movie anymore as her mind kept trying to picture in her mind 'The Boss' as Klaus had described him. Secretly, she was extremely curious to know who this person was, but she was in deep denial about that.

About half an hour later, Rosa had heard a knock on her door, and she let the guest into her room. It was Pearl, and she looked like she was concerned about something.

"Are you alright, Rosa?" She asked, "You seemed down after coming home from work today."

"I'm fine, Mama", Rosa answered, "Klaus just told me on webcam that he found out that Gloria's boyfriend is in a biker gang."

"Did he happen to find out who that guy he was trying to set you up with?"

"Yeah... He said that he was the leader of the gang. Apparently tall, long black hair, wore all black leather pants and jacket. To me, he sounds like bad news."

"Rosa", Pearl said as she put her hand on her daughter's shoulder, "You shouldn't judge someone based on their appearance. You have no idea of what this guy is like until you actually meet him for yourself."

"I know, I know", Rosa exhaled, "But I have no idea if I should trust Al's story about him."

Pearl smiled softly and looked at her with sincere eyes. "I think you should just let things fall into place. You might see him around eventually."

Rosa shrugged. She really didn't want to see this guy in person, EVER, but she went along with what her mother said anyway.

After a brief moment of silence, Pearl asked, "Why don't you come downstairs with me and help me prepare dinner? I think that might help you blow off some steam after such a frustrating day."

"OK, Mama", Rosa said as she followed her mother out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen.


	5. Chapter 4

June 17, 9:00 AM

Kitaki Mansion

Rosa fluttered her eyes open and sat up slowly. The sun was bright outside and caused her room to be extremely bright, even with the window curtains turned in. She got up and went to the window and open it, casting even more light into the room. It certainly was a beautiful morning, and the best part of it all was that Rosa had the day off from work. After opening the shades on the windows she went into the bathroom to shower, and there she thought about what she was going to do during her time off.

"_It's about time Papa let me have a day off from work! I guess after what happened yesterday, he decided that I needed a break. Though, I'm not really sure of what I should do today... I could just stay here and read or something, but I don't want to be in the house all day! Hmm... Oh, I know! People Park... It's been a while since I've gone there. I really need to go check on the gardens there and make sure the plants aren't dead! Grampops would kill me!"_

Rosa stepped out of the shower and grabbed her robe. She then grabbed her clothes for the day and put them on quickly. There was no time to waste as she was to do some grounds-keeping duty at the park today. Her gardening tools were lying in one of her drawers, so she reached inside and grabbed them, along with her favorite bandanna so she could keep her hair out of her face while she worked. After doing all that, she headed down the stairs and into the kitchen to meet up with her family members.

Upon getting to the breakfast table, everyone had already started eating without her- Winfred, Plum and Pearl were all there eating casually. Wocky and William were noticeably absent, due to them being at work and school respectively. Rosa grabs a plate, slabs some food on it and sits down with everyone else.

"Good morning", Rosa said to everyone at the table.

"Good morning, Rosa", Pearl said to her daughter, "How are you? Are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah, Mama, I feel a lot better", She replied. She saw Pearl looking at her gardening gear and look back at her again.

"Oh, are you going out to the gardens today?"

"Yes", Rosa answered, "I haven't been in a while and I want to check to make sure the kids in the park haven't trampled on my flowers to death."

Plum laughed at her granddaughter's comment. "It's sweet that you still love flowers as much as you did when you were little."

"Yeah, but these flowers are there making the park look nice. Nobody wants to see a bunch of dead plants, do they?"

"Of course not", Winfred added.

"I'm glad you have this day off, Rosa", Pearl said, "You seemed pretty stressed out yesterday about work."

"Yeah, I sure was", Rosa said, smiling brightly, "But I feel better now. Today will be a great day, I just know it!"

"That's good to hear!" Plum laughed.

Rosa soon finished off her plate and got up from the table. She grabbed her things and headed for the front door.

"Now, if you'll excuse me..."

She then put on her bandanna and opened the door before leaving with, "... I'm going out now. I'll see you later."

People Park

In no time at all, Rosa had arrived at the park. The mansion was right across the street so it was no trouble to just walk to her destination. She walked down the concrete pathway, watching the people enjoying the day. Kids playing on the playground, couples having picnics, the old lady feeding the pigeons on her usual bench. Yes, this was truly going to be a perfect day for the Kitakis' daughter.

After walking for about ten minutes, Rosa had finally reached the garden that she wanted to fix up. She puts her gardening tools down on the ground and kneels down to prepare to pull up the dead plants and weeds.

"Hmm, doesn't look too bad here", Rosa said with a sigh of relief, "Hopefully this won't take too long."

She started to dig into the dirt, pulling the lifeless flowers and unwanted plants from the ground while a song started to escape her lips.

_Sugar, sugar_

_Oh that night, in your embrace_

_When you stole away the keys_

_My heart held onto so tight..._

* * *

On the other side of the park, some young men were walking down the park's trail. They looked like they were trying to get somewhere in a hurry, and they weren't paying attention to anything that was going on around them. However, it turned out that this group turned out to be consisted of Gloria's boyfriend Al and his friends.

Al looked over to the guy next to him, who was the biggest one in the group. He was frustrated that they were walking through this park and he wanted to voice his opinion on the matter.

"Why are we at this dinky park anyway, Boss?" He asked in an angry tone, "Couldn't we have just gone on the main road?"

"'Cause it's easier to get back to my place this way", 'Boss' replied as he lead the way through the maze of trees, kids and people walking their dogs.

"How is it easier?" Jeff said as he almost tripped over a ball in the middle of the path, "It jus' seems like we're goin' through a maze here!"

"Trust me, I've been usin' this shortcut for years!"

Boss seemed pretty sure of himself as to where he was going, so the rest of the group really didn't want to question about it any further. They just kept going through the park for the next several minutes in total silence, trying to get back to their hangout. All seemed well for a while, until Boss had unconsciously turned his head when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Through the bushes, he saw Rosa from behind sitting on the ground and doing her grounds-keeping work. In that instant, he was mesmerized and just sat there starting at her.

He, however, did not realize that his friends had walked off without him, and they had to turn around to find out what had happened to him. They saw that Boss has standing near the bushes like and idiot.

"Boss, what're you doin'?" Carl asked.

His leader didn't answer since he was too distracted by Rosa to know he was even present.

Johnny checked her out and decided to say, "Hmm... Chick's got a nice ass."

"Oh yeah", Jeff agreed.

"Do you guys even know who that is?" Al said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

Johnny, Jeff and Carl all say "no" and shake their head at him. Al sighed and began to explain about who the girl was.

"It's Gloria's friend, Rosa! Don't you remember?"

The guys' jaws dropped and they stared at Al in shock. They knew about Rosa from things that Gloria told Al but they didn't know that much, nor did they ever see her in person.

"What?" Johnny spat, "That... That's Rosa? Damn... Never thought she'd look like THAT!"

Carl decided that enough was enough and he went over to Boss and tried to snap him out of his stupor.

"Hey, Boss, stop actin' like a slobberin' idiot and go talk to her!"

Boss shook his head when he felt Carl shaking him and yelling at him in his ear. He turned his head slowly and responded, "Wha... W-What? Sorry... I wasn't payin' attention."

"Boss, did you hear what I said?" Al asked, "That girl you're gawkin' over is friends with Gloria."

Boss seemed awfully shocked to hear this. "Huh? Why haven't I seen her before, then?"

"'Cause Gloria doesn't ever bring 'er around us."

The leader finally regained his composure and got into a cocky stance. His mind was really reeling after seeing Rosa.

"I ain't jus' gonna keep standing here like an idiot", He said, "I'm gonna go over there and pull on the charms. No girl ever resists me."

"Yeah, well, good luck", Al scoffed as he watched Boss climb over the bushes to get to Rosa.

Boss had finally reached Rosa, but he didn't say anything to her as she was singing and he wanted to listen to her. She was not aware of his presence at all as she continued to mind her own business.

_You never know_

_What life will bring you_

_Over the mountains and through the seas_

_Guiding you to where you want to be._

Suddenly, Rosa started to notice that the sky started to grow dark around her.

"Why did it just get dark out of a sudden?" She said to herself softly. She then shrugged it off and said, "Hm, must be overcast. I don't remember the weather report calling for rain today though. Oh well..."

After that statement, Rosa had continued to sing.

_And then when you get to the grand stage_

_You will stand proud and face your fears_

_And never shed another tear._

"Nice singin'", A deep voice rang out.

Rosa turned around wildly out of shock when she heard the sound. She shrieked when she saw Boss and almost fell backwards onto the plants that she had just put into the ground. Boss, on the other hand, was starting at Rosa again while she stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants. Finally getting to see her face this time, she was taken aback by how pretty he thought she was.

His thoughts were broken when he started to hear Rosa yell at him, with her cheeks flared out, her lips turned into a pout and her eyes narrowed.

"You... You idiot!" She shouted in his face, "Why did you do that? I almost flattened these plants thanks to you!"

Boss backed away from her slightly, but he wasn't the least bit intimidated by her. She was seven inches shorter than he was so he wasn't scared of her fear tactics. In fact, he liked it.

"Woah, woah", He laughed, running his hands through his hair, "I'm sorry, babe. I just happened to pass by and I noticed you."

Rosa continued to frown at him and she responded, "Well, I'm busy, so I don't have time for small talk right now."

Boss noticed the ice in her tone but that didn't stop him from talking to her more.

"... Could you at least tell me your name?" He asked in a very nonchalant manner.

Rosa could feel her eye twitch as she started to grow more and more annoyed with this random guy talking to her.

"My name is Rosa Kitaki", She grumbled while fiddling with some strands of her hair.

"Name's Emilio Montoya", Boss finally revealed, "I was passin' through this park to get back to my place. My dad's got a auto repair place down the road..."

He then inched his way over to Rosa, almost touching faces with her and putting his arm around her. Rosa flinched and tried to get away but Emilio was much stronger than she was so her efforts were futile. And she almost wanted to punch him in the face for using his free hand to touch her hair.

"... So if you got any car troubles, just give us a call."

Emilio took his hand off Rosa's hair and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a business card and gave it to the girl he was making ever so angry. Rosa's face was so red out of frustration and embarrassment that it could have exploded at any moment. She took the business card anyway and glanced over it. Then, at that moment, something hit her.

"_This guy... This is the one Klaus said that he saw! The hair, the clothes...! Oh man, this is so embarrassing... Al wanted to hook me up with THIS guy?"_

"Um... Thanks, I'll keep that in mind", Rosa said as she tried to get Emilio's arms off of her as politely as she could.

He just gives her a confused look. Apparently, he wasn't used to a girl not liking his close attention. Emilio didn't say anything on the matter and he decided to ask Rosa a question about what she was doing.

"So... Why're you playin' in dirt?"

"It's called GARDENING", Rosa snapped, "Ever hear of it?"

Emilio couldn't help but chuckle at her again. He was finding her anger cute and he was using it to his total advantage. He wanted to pick through her brain and get to know her as much as he could.

"Yeah, I know what gardening is!" He said with a fearless smile, "My mom has a garden out back that she grows herbs and stuff. It's kinda cool, I guess."

Rosa just shook her head in annoyance and just rolled her eyes."Right. Anyway, like I said before, I'm really busy, and I would like for you to leave now."

Emilio shrugged and decided to leave her alone. For the time being that is."Alright. But can I see you again when you're not busy?"

Rosa looked at him with a stern face and said sharply, "No." She finally turned away from him and went back to tending to the park's garden. She could hear Emilio snicker again and felt a tingle of annoyance go down her spine as she tried to tune out his antics.

"You're not gonna shake me off that easily, Rosa!" He announced in a cocky tone, all while preening himself. "I'm gonna see you again whether you like it or not!"

And after that, he walked away and back to his friends. Jeff, Carl, Al and Johnny all gathered around him when they all got back together. They hadn't seen what happened since they were too busy getting some noodles from Eldoon.

"What happened, man?"

"Did you get 'er?"

"How was it?"

"Did your 'charms' work?"

"Woah, woah, woah! Step back fellas!" Emilio said as he pushed his friends away from him so he could get some breathing room.

"So", Al said with a smirk and nudging his friend, "How was she?"

"Wow... Rosa... She's real cute, guys", Emilio answered with a satisfied grin, "Sexy as hell. She was actin' totally shy around me and was playin' hard to get. I'm totally gonna keep goin' after that one."

"You better watch out, Boss", Al warned, "I went to the shop she works at yesterday with Gloria... She's kinda nasty. Gloria said she has man issues."

Emilio just laughed and pushed his hair back in his usual devil may care demeanor.

"Yeah, she's a firecracker alight", He chuckled, "But really? Man problems? HER? How could she when she has looks like THAT?"

"No clue, Boss", Al shrugged, "I guess she's just inexperienced."

His friend grew even more cocky at this statement and began primping himself again.

"Hah, don't worry about that", He declared arrogantly, "I'll give 'er some experience."

The rest of the guys whistled and were amazed by how sure he was that he was going to get Rosa. They were thinking that the road ahead for him was not going to be easy.

"Woah!" Jeff said with a laugh,"Gettin' kinda cocky there, aren't ya, Boss?"

"When my sights are set, Jeff, they're set", Emilio replied, "That's one fish I gotta catch."

"Let's just hope it won't be like Diana", Carl said in a worried tone, "You cried over her for WEEKS! She broke you bad!"

"Forget Diana!" Emilio spat, "She was a slut, anyway! She dumped me for some sloppy ass moron! Rosa don't look like that to me at all!"

Well good luck with that, Boss", Al said, "You're really, REALLY gonna need it."

* * *

Rosa was finishing up with her gardening for the day, and she was putting her tools away. She was thinking about what had happened earlier when "Emilio" had crept out of nowhere and decided to put moves on her. Needless to say, she was rather upset.

"_A perfectly good day is now ruined thanks to so some moron! What did that guy think he was? Talk about a cocky asshole. I hope I never see his face again. Geez, I'm so flustered I can't even think straight! Maybe I should get out of here..."_

She thought for a short while, and then something hit her.

" _Hmm... I wonder if Fee is at home? Maybe I'll go visit her for a while since it's my day off and all."_

After Rosa finally gets everything put away, she gets up and heads out of the park and back to her driveway. She then gets in her car and drives to Fee's house.

Tobaye Residence

Rosa pulled up into the driveway of the Tobaye's house and she got out of her car after doing so. She walked up the very nice sidewalk up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Soon a man answers the door- Machi Tobaye, Fee's father. During this time, he was still a piano player and traveled with his wife and Fee doing concerts together. But for now, they were having some downtime until the next gig.

"Hello, Rosa", He greeted.

"Hi, Mr. Tobaye. Is Fee home?" Rosa asked.

"Yes", Machi answered, "She is in living room reading. You can come in."

Rosa then is invited inside the house and she walks in. She heads straight to the living room and sees Fee sitting on the couch reading a book. Fee's hair was blonde like Machi's and was done in the 'finger wave' style, which was short and wavy. She had one feather hairpin on each side of her head. Her summer dress was blue and her white ballerina flats tapped on the floor upon hearing her friend come in. Fee directed her light blue eyes over at Rosa's dark brown ones and smiled.

"Oh, hi Rosa", She said in her airy voice, "Are you off from work today?"

"Yeah", Rosa answered, "I just left People Park from doing some maintenance on the gardens."

"I see. I've had some time off from violin recitals myself, but I'm still practicing every day."

"That's good. Actually, when I was at work yesterday... Gloria actually came in with her boyfriend, Al."

Fee looked at Rosa in curiosity and tilted her head. "Wow, really? What happened?"

"Gloria just came in to show off!" Rosa spat, "Al even tried to mess with me and try to set me up with one of his friends! Can you believe that?"

"Yeah, I have noticed that Gloria has changed a lot since she met Al." The younger girl sighed. "It's sad, really."

Rosa then continued to go on her little rant. "And just a little while ago, while I was working at the park, some random guy came up behind me and started talking to me for no reason!"

"Well, I'm sure he didn't mean any harm", Fee replied, "... I hope."

"He said his name was Emilio something or other, and that he works at some car place. I ended up finding out that he was the guy that Al tried to set me up with! All thanks to Klaus telling me about it."

Rosa then remembered that she had Emilio's business card in her pocket. She had completely forgotten to throw it away, but she was glad she didn't now so she could show evidence of her 'admirer'. She took it out and then gave it to Fee.

"I haven't heard of this place before", The violinist said while glancing over the card, "But then again, I haven't had to use a car mechanic so I wouldn't be aware of who's who in the businesses around here."

"I'm never gonna go there 'cause this guy was a huge flirt!" Rosa said angrily, "He even tried to touch me!"

It wasn't anything... Inappropriate was it, Rosa?" Fee asked in a completely honest tone.

Rosa's face turned completely red and sputtered, "... He put his arm around my waist and got up in my face!"

Fee shrugged. "Well, it could have been worse, you know."

Rosa's face got even redder. "I don't even WANT to think about that, Fee!"

"If he's made you this uncomfortable," The blonde advised, "Then just ignore him the next time you see him, or try to avoid him."

"I'll try, but I don't think it'll be easy", Rosa answered, "He said that he was going to try to see me again. I really hope he doesn't find the bakery. My dad will go insane if he tries to make moves on me there..."

Machi suddenly came into the room with some sheet music in his hands. "Fee, it's time for practice."

Fee smiled and walked over to her dad, "Alright, Dad!"

Rosa waved and said, "Oh. I guess I'll go now. See you later, Fee!"

"Bye, Rosa!" Fee said while bidding farewell.

The older girl then proceeded out of the house and decided to head back home.


	6. Chapter 5

June 17, 1:36 PM

Kitaki Mansion

Rosa walked through the doors of the mansion thoroughly exhausted, flustered and exasperated after what she had been through at the park. Sure, going to Fee's house did help somewhat, but she couldn't get the thought of that big idiot Emilio Montoya out of her head. Rosa wished deeply that she would never see him again, but somehow she had a feeling that he was going to pop again somewhere. To try to shake off her feelings, the girl walked into the kitchen to find something to cook for lunch. Perhaps a frozen pizza wouldn't hurt right now. She took it out of the freezer and popped it into the oven, then went over to the kitchen table to pour herself some iced tea that her grandmother had made.

"_Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID!" _Rosa screamed in her head as she sipped on the ice cold beverage in her hands, _"I can't believe some random guy tried to hit me up today! Who did he think he was? Oh, why do these things always happen to me? Man, if word got out at work... Papa would kill me, the guys would probably back Papa up... And I don't even WANT to know what the Airhead Triplets would do! They would NEVER let me live this down!"_

Her hands were trembling in frustration as her thoughts reeled through her head. She wasn't even aware that Pearl had walked into the room and was trying to speak to her in the process.

"Rosa!"

Rosa spun her head around and faced her mother. She put her glass down and answered, "O-Oh... Oh! Mama! S-Sorry, I... Didn't see you there."

"Rosa, what's wrong?" Ms. Fey asked, "Did everything at the park go alright?"

She began to see her daughter sweating bullets and her face turning a very dark shade of red. Rosa did NOT want to tell Pearl what happened at the park. She was so afraid of her reaction that she just wanted to run upstairs to her room and lock herself inside for the next fifteen years.

"I-It... It was alright. But-"

"_Shit! I just HAD to say 'but'! Now she's gonna know something's up!"_

Pearl looked at Rosa curiously with her eyebrow arched up. "Hm? Did something happen?"

"W-Well", Rosa stammered, "Umm... There... There was this guy, and he, uh... Yeah."

As soon as her mother heard the word 'guy' her eyes went wide and started to become even more curious about what happened to her. "Oh, a guy you say? What did he do?"

Rosa looked at Pearl angrily and shouted, "He... He was making moves on me!"

"Making... Moves on you?" Pearl asked, "How?"

"He put his arm around me and touched my hair!" Rosa blurted out.

"Oh... Well, he wasn't being naughty, was he?"

Rosa's face couldn't turn any redder when Pearl said that. She just wanted to die in a hole at that very moment. All she managed to squeak out was, "N... Not really... I guess."

After an awkward moment of silence, Pearl smiled at her daughter and put her hands together in delight. "Oh, that's good then! So, what was he like? What is his name?"

"H-His name? Umm..." Rosa wished that this conversation would just end.

"What's wrong, Rosa? You don't need to be so shy! I'm your mother!"

Rosa realized that she was looking down at the floor and quickly looked back up at Pearl.

"_God, what is wrong with me? Did... Did Willy lace something in this tea?"_

"... His name is Emilio", She answered, "He just came up behind me while I was working and started flirting with me! He also shoved his business card in my face!"

She went into her pants pocket and took out the crumpled up business card and gave it to Pearl.

"Oh, an auto repair business?" Pearl asked, "It sounds like this young man has something going for him."

"Don't let that fool you, Mama!" Rosa retorted, "Emilio is really arrogant and pushy. I was really turned off by the way he acted towards me."

"What a shame", Pearl said while shaking her head in disappointment, "Perhaps he was trying too hard to get your attention."

"He sure was", Her daughter added, "I have a feeling he's going to pop up somewhere to annoy me again. Like the bakery. And Papa will NOT be happy if that happens. You know how he is about guys coming around me."

"Maybe the next time you see him you should address your concerns with him."

Rosa looked at Pearl and thought she was crazy for saying that. "Are you kidding me? I doubt he'd listen to me, 'cause he seems like the type that can't take no for an answer!"

"You should at least try to talk to him", Pearl said reassuringly, "If he was really sincere about being interested in you he'd listen, right?"

"Yeah", Rosie answered bitterly, "If I ever see him again, that is."

"Mama, are you in here?" A voice interrupted suddenly. William had stepped into the kitchen having heard the entire conversation between his sister and his mom.

"I'm right here, William", Pearl answered, "Is there something you need?"

"Oh, nothin' much", William smiled, "I just wanted to know if my ears were foolin' me."

"About what?" Pearl asked again with her head tilted slightly.

"Duh, about a guy actually flirting with Rosie!" Her son bursted out with laughter, "What a shocker!"

"Who asked you, Willy?" Rosa snapped at her younger brother. William just gave her a raspberry and left the room laughing. Pearl looked back at her shaking her head and sighing.

"He is such a handful", Pearl said in a tired tone.

"Yeah", Rosa said as she got up and started to head out of the room, "I'm gonna go check my messages on my computer now, Mama."

"Alright, then. I'll see you later."

After Rosa left, Pearl sighed again and said to herself, "That girl is really something else."

* * *

Montoya Residence- Living Room

Meanwhile, Emilio was at home with his parents, Vito and Morela. Their house wasn't anything spectacular, especially compared to the Kitakis' mansion. The Montoyas lived in a one story house and had their car business next door. Emilio's mother, Morela, was seen organizing paperwork for her husband's business, since she was also his secretary. She was a thirty six year old woman with long black hair and brown eyes. Morela was always accustomed to Vito's love for cars since she herself was a big fan of them, so they connected instantly when they met.

Vito, Emilio's father, was forty one years old, had piercing and wise dark blue eyes and facial hair. His son looked just like him when he was that age, having a strong figure and having a hot blooded personality. He is the leader of his auto repair business and does most of the jobs himself, occasionally letting Emilio or one of his other workers help him. Emilio had been working with his dad since he was thirteen years old so he was starting to become just as knowledgeable as his dad. Well, almost.

"Emilio sure has been acting a lot more cheerful today, hasn't he?" Morela asked, "He's hardly concentrating on anything!"

"Yeah", Vito answered while looking up from his newspaper, "He was down for a long time when Diana cheated on him like that... It was painful to see him cry so much."

"Maybe he's finally gotten over her", His wife said in a hopeful manner.

"Perhaps, Mo. Let's ask him about this later."

Montoya Residence- Emilio's Room

Emilio was in his room desperately searching for something on his computer. The room itself was strewn with clothes all over the floor and posters of cars, motorcycles and rock bands covering the walls. He was quite a messy person and his mother scolded him often for keeping his room so disorganized, but he always gave the excuse that he was too busy to clean. Right now, he had to worry about finding Rosa's social network page.

"Rosa... Katakee? Katicky? No, that's not it! Ugh, I can't find her anywhere! I wish I knew how to spell her name! Maybe I'll ask Al if he knows."

He opened up his instant messaging client and sent Al a message saying, "How do you spell Rosa's last name?"

Al responded a few seconds later with, "You still obsessing over that girl?"

Emilio blushed. He knows he only just met Rosa today but he really liked her despite her trying to reject him. There was something about her that he was really attracted to, but he didn't know what it was.

"Just tell me how to spell her name!", He typed.

"Hang on", Al responded, "I think Gloria has a receipt from the bakery around here somewhere..."

It was quiet for the next few moments, until Al typed up another message: "Found it! This is how it's written: Kitaki."

"Thanks, man!" Emilio typed back and promptly closed the window afterwards. Sure enough with Al's help, Emilio was able to find Rosa's page. However, he ran into a small problem...

"Aww, man, her page is set to private!" He shouted in despair, "What do I do now? I-"

He then realized that Rosa may have blocked unfriended people from her Guisefolio page, but she didn't block them from sending message. The boy's face lit up into a excited smile and clicked on the link.

I'll send her a message! Yeah!"

Emilio quickly typed up the message and sent it Rosa's way. All he had to do now was wait for her to respond. The suspense was going to kill him.

* * *

Kitaki Mansion

Back in Rosa's room, the Kitaki princess was sitting at her computer still talking to Klaus and Fee in a private chatroom. They were just shooting the breeze talking about random stuff until Rosa got an alert from Guisefolio.

"Hang on guys, I need to check something", Rosa typed. She went over to her Guisefolio page and saw that Emilio had sent her a message. Her worries came back to a head all over again. The sweat and tension came back full force as she read Emilio's words.

"_Hey, you're that girl from the park today, right? I just wanted to know if I could add you to my friends list. I think we should get to know each other better and hang out. Come on, babe. You know you want to. -Emilio"_

After she read the note Rosa started freaking out and typed crazily in the chatroom.

Rosa: "OMG WTF?"

Klaus: "What happened Röslein?"

Rosa: "Emilio found my Guisefolio page and sent me a message! He just met me only a few hours ago and he already wants to add me!"

Fee: "What did he say?"

Rosa then copy and pasted what Emilio said into the chatroom.

Klaus: "Wow he likes you a lot."

Fee: "Are you going to say anything back?"

Rosa: "I don't know!"

Fee: "Just tell him straight up that you won't tolerate his... Umm... Flirty-ness."

Rosa: "... Ugh. I might as well because I feel like if I don't he will never leave me alone."

Rosa then went back to her Guisefolio window and started typing up a message to Emilio.

Rosa: "There, I did it. I really hope I don't regret this."

Klaus: "Don't worry about it."

Fee: "I think things will be fine."

Rosa: "Thanks, guys."

* * *

Montoya Residence

Emilio walked back into his room a few moments later after taking his puppy, Erika, outside to run around and do her business. The first thing on his mind right now was to see if Rosa had responded to his message. Much to his delight, she answered back.

"_Yeah, I saw you today. I guess we can be friends, BUT NO FUNNY STUFF PAL! -Rosa"_

"You hear that Erika?" He said to his puppy while she hopped on his bed and lied down, "Rosa said we can be friends! I'm one step closer to making her mine! YEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!"

The puppy just barked as if to say, "Don't get too cocky there, bub."


	7. Chapter 6

June 17, 4:37 PM

Kitaki's Bakery

Wocky was inside his office at the bakery going through orders that he had filed away. Today was a pretty busy day so he went through them rather quickly to make sure nothing was skipped over. He was very much focused on the task at hand until it was broken by a telephone ringing in his ears. He swiftly picked up the phone and began speaking to whoever was on the other line.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hi Wocky, how are you?" Wocky heard Pearl's voice say.

The man breathed a little sigh of relief, being glad that it wasn't a customer or one of his supply warehouses.

"I'm good, Pearl", Wocky said with a smile, "Just doing work around the office as usual. How are you doing?"

"I'm alright", Pearl answered, "I was calling because I wanted to tell you something."

Her husband started to get a little worried about what she had said. "Huh? What's up, Pea? Is something wrong?"

It's about Rosa", She said, with a laugh sprinkled into her words ever so lightly.

Wocky was getting more apprehensive when he responded, "What? What happened to Rosie?"

"Rosa, she..." Pearl paused at that moment, almost afraid to tell Wocky what she had called him for. She was then heard sighing softly and finished her sentence.

"She told me that a guy flirted with her at the park today. Isn't that sweet? She has a new friend on her hands!"

And then, silence. Silence and tension that could be cut through with a razor blade. Eventually Wocky decided that he wanted to have a total freak out and scream at the top of his lungs.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"

This, of course, was heard by the entire staff of the bakery, and they rushed into his office thinking something terrible happened to their boss. They saw that Wocky was on the phone and they decided to stand in the doorframe and listen.

"Pearl, "You're... You're joking, right?" Wocky asked frantically.

"Of course not", Pearl answered.

"Who... WHO'S THE JOKER FLIRTING WITH MY DAUGHTER?"

Pearl went silent for several moments and then spoke again. "... His name is Emilio Montoya. He gave Rosa a business card for his father's automobile repair business."

"I have no idea what that's about but this guy sounds like trouble!" Wocky said.

Pearl sighed in an annoyed tone and responded, "Wocky, you shouldn't judge someone that you don't even know!"

"I just want my daughter to be safe, Pearl!" Wocky shot back, "I've known guys that were mechanics in my life... They can be pretty rough types, I tell ya!"

"Rosa will be fine", His wife reassured him, "You really shouldn't worry so much."

Wocky grunted in a frustrated way and decided that he wanted to end the call. "I.. I gotta get back to work now, Pearl. I'll talk to you later."

When he hung up the phone, he turned his head to see his staff members standing outside his office door staring at him like he was crazy. Some of them were even snickering amongst themselves.

We heard all that screaming jus' 'cause Rosie was gettin' hit on by some player?" One of the bakers, Joe, said with a laugh, "Come on, man!"

"What do you wise guys think you're doing in here trespassin' in my office?" Wocky snapped.

"We thought you were dying in here", Ralph said while he was shaking his head.

"YOU'RE going to be dead if you guys quit goofing off!" His boss said angrily.

Woah hang on there, W.K!" Dom the cashier said, "We just wanna know what happened! What's the guy's name? I can dig up some info for ya."

"Pearl said his name was Emilio Montoya", Wocky answered, "She said that his father is a mechanic."

Dom stood there for a moment and pondered. "Montoya, Montoya... Oh yeah, I know who they are! I've gotten my car fixed over there before! Vito's Auto Clinic!"

Wocky then got out of his chair and grabbed Dom's collar in desperation. "WHAT? You know them? Tell me... EVERYTHING."

Ack! Don't kill me!" Dom screeched.

"Give me the dirt Dom!" Wocky demanded, "I need to know if this guy is worthy for Rosa!"

"Alright, just give me a second!" Dom said, trying to get Wocky to let go of him.

"Like I said before", Dom continued, "I got my car fixed there once, so this is how I know what I know. The place is run by Vito. He's a pretty cool guy, and his wife is Morela, who's the nicest person ever.. She even gave me some cookies while I was waiting to get my car fixed! And the one flirting with Rosie, Emilio... He's got his own little group of guys that he hangs out with and rides motorcycles and stuff around the city."

The more Wocky was hearing of this story, the more he sputtered and stammered in pure frustration, anger and rage. The other workers stared at him in fear and took several steps back as if he was going to explode.

"I think he's gonna blow!" George laughed among the rest of the crew watching their boss get amusingly flustered.

Wocky suddenly stood up and shouted, "A motorcycle gang leader with my daughter? Heresy I say! HERESY!"

Everyone jumped back when Wocky shouted the word 'heresy' so forcefully upon them.

"Woah, boss", Dom said as he cowered in fear a bit, "Hang on before you-"

Second in command Ralph then decided to take charge and grab Wocky and hold him back so he wouldn't make another childish outburst.

"You're damn lucky we don't have any customers in here right now, you big doofus!" Ralph hissed in his boss' ear, "Geez, even as a forty year old man you haven't changed a bit!"

"I... Just..." Wocky was at a loss for words at this point. He didn't know what else he could say without having to resort to cursing out everyone in the room.

"Boss", Dom spoke up, "Emilio and his motorcycle guys don't do jack shit They ain't criminals or anythin'. They just ride around on their bikes like I said. And they work at the repair place too, I saw 'em!"

Wocky looked into Dom's eyes trying to find any sparkle of honesty in what he had said, and he managed to find at least a little bit. He sighed and decided to give into what was going on with Rosa. He figured that he couldn't stop this from happening. "... At... At least he sounds like he does something productive in his life."

As soon as he felt Wocky calm down, Ralph let go of him and said, "Are you finally calm?"

"I guess so", Wocky answered, "But I'm really gonna need some time to take all this in. My poor Rosie..."

The bakery staff sighed and walked out of the room. They thought Wocky was being really ridiculous about the whole situation. Indeed an overprotective father he was, but that wasn't anything that they could control. All they could do was just watch and offer some helpful advice whenever they were able to.

Wocky sat back down in his chair and put his head in his hands. He was really going to need a lot of quiet time to think about what he had just heard, and he was going to have a long talk with Pearl and Rosa at home.

* * *

June 17

Kitaki Mansion

At the home of the Kitaki Family, Rosa was sitting in the living room with her grandparents, her mother and her brother talking about what had happened to her at the park once again. Rosa was really starting to get sick of telling this story by now, but Plum and Winfred hadn't heard about it yet, so she had no choice to but to rehash it. At this point in the conversation Rosa had gotten to the part where she was talking about the note that Emilio had sent her. She showed a print out version of it to her grandparents and they examined it in interest. Plum looked up from the note and laughed heartily as usual.

"So", The woman said afterward, "You have yourself a suitor, eh, Rosa?"

"Emilio's not my suitor!" Rosa shouted with her face painted red, "He's some guy that just snuck up on me out of nowhere and ruined my work at the park! We've gone over this already!"

"You're giving him such a hard time, Rosa", Pearl responded while shaking her head, "He doesn't sound like he's trying to hurt you or anything. He sounds kind of sweet, actually."

"He just needs to get the message that I don't like him the way that I think he does", Rosa said.

Her mother sighed and shook her head again. "You're thinking too much into this, Rosa. Maybe he just wants to be friends."

"I'm not sure if the friendship he's looking for is the same one you're thinking of, Mama."

"Rosie, you're being really stupid about this", William butted in while looking up from his smart phone, "I got a girl at school that's flirting with me. Eva is her name. She's so cute!"

"Maybe we should invite her over for dinner one day", Pearl smiled, "And while we're at it we can invite Emilio too!"

Rosa's blush went even more hardcore as she shouted, "HELL NO!"

Pearl glared at her daughter like she always did whenever she or her father used foul language around her. Rosa simply shrunk back in fear and stammered, "S-Sorry..."

Winfred shifted in his chair and cleared his voice before he spoke. He looked at Rosa with his aged, intelligent eyes and said to her, "I don't see anything wrong with this note that he sent you. Just let him know that you want to take things slow and-"

Just like his son always did to him during his fits of panic and frustration, Rosa interrupted Winfred quite rudely. "I know that, Grandpops! It's just... He seems so stubborn! That's it- If I see him again I am going to give him a piece of my mind!"

All Winfred could do was shake his head and say softly, "You're just like your father."

"He's right", Pearl agreed, "You're judging someone that you don't even know. And it wasn't very kind of you to interrupt someone while they were speaking."

"I'm sorry, Mama", Rosa said, "I'm just really upset right now!"

After that she just sat on the couch with her lips in a pout and her arms folded across her chest. Everyone else just sighed and went silent. Sometimes it was really hard to deal with Rosa when she was having one of her childish tantrums. However, William had his nose in his phone still, not paying any attention to what was going on. He was too busy trying to find the Guisefolio page of Emilio so he could humiliate Rosa even further, thanks to his name being on the note that Rosa had shown earlier. When he found the page, his jaw dropped and he started to laugh very loudly causing everyone to jump in surprise.

"What's so funny?" Pearl asked while turning her head to her son, "You've been looking at that phone for ages."

"Oh my god", Willy gasped while trying to sustain his laughter, "Look at this guy!"

He handed the phone over to his mom and her eyes go wide in shock. She saw a young man leaning up against the wall of a garage with a black and red motorcycle next to him. He was about six feet tall with a muscular physique, his eyes dark blue and crinkled up around the edges as he had a confident smile in the picture. The boy's hair was black and scruffy with the length covering the nape of his neck. The style of his clothes consisted of blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up to show the black sneakers he was wearing, a black leather jacket with a white tank shirt underneath and a chained wallet that was inside one of his pants pockets.

"This... Is Emilio?" Pearl asked Rosa as she handed William's phone over to her. Rosa wanted to die when she saw what the picture was. She looked at her mother and simply nodded at her, since she really didn't know what else to say about it. But she knew she wanted to beat the crap out of her brother later.

"He does looks a little rough", Pearl spoke again, "But I can't really judge him based on a picture alone. I have yet to see him face to face."

"And you never will", Rosa said quietly.

"What was that, Rosa?" Pearl inquired.

"Nothing", Rosa replied as she shook her head.

"He's reminding me of when Winnie and I were younger", Plum sighed, "We would ride a motorcycle around the city all day long. Ah, the late 90s and early 2000s were a wonderful time for us."

"I never had a motorcycle, Plum", Winfred said, "It was a moped."

"Well, whatever! It's still such a wonderful memory." Plum sighed again dreamily while her husband just rolled his eyes.

"Anyway", Rosa said as she tried to segway the conversation back to Emilio, "I just don't want Papa to ever see Emilio. He will kill him, I know it. He already sounded upset when you told him about what happened to me, Mama."

Pearl laughed softly and reassured her, "Don't worry about him, Rosa. I'm going to have a nice, long talk with him when he gets home."

She then turned her head to William and said, "Let's make sure that Papa doesn't see this picture."

"There ain't no use hiding it", William responded, "Papa's gonna see Emilio eventually! I bet you a million dollars that he's gonna try to show his face at the bakery one of these days. Hahahah, I might even try to friend him on Guisefolio and-"

Rosa covered her brother's mouth and hissed, "You wouldn't dare."

William moved his sister's hand away and continued, "As if I'm actually going to go through with it! Seeing how slick and sly this guy looks, he's gonna track you down like a heat seeking missile!"

"Lovely, a stalker", Rosa said sarcastically, "That's what I really need right now!"

"Why don't you just start talking to him already?" William retorted, "You already decided to let him onto your Guisefolio page. So just start meeting up with him at some places and... Why the hell am I giving my OLDER sister dating advice?"

"Shut up Willy!" Rosa yelled, "I only friended Emilio because I knew if I didn't he would never leave me alone about it! And now I've risked all of my other friends seeing him on my page and now they're probably thinking things that I really hope they aren't thinking!"

"I'm sure your friends won't judge you for this", Plum interrupted, "I'm sure they'd understand."

Rosa then felt as if a brick had hit her right in the face. She didn't even think about if her friends had found out that she had friended Emilio yet. Immediately she went on to her own smartphone to see if she had any new comments on her page. She felt a lot better that she didn't see any comments on her page about this recent happening. She then sighs and hangs her head.

"This is going to be really hard", Rosa said with her head down and some tears coming out of her eyes, "I'm really overwhelmed."

Plum then gave Rosa a hearty embrace and said calmly, "Rosa, you shouldn't be so upset over this! I know that this is the first time that this has really happened to you, but think of this as something new and exciting! Trust me, if I had a guy that good looking pursuing me I'd follow suit in a heartbeat!"

"But I'm not the type to just go out there and go after someone", Rosa said weakly, "I'm trying to handle this the best I can, but... This is just really weird. Sure, I have some guy friends like Klaus, but he doesn't act the way that Emilio does. He's different."

"You've barely known him for a day", Winfred laughed softly, "Just don't worry and just go with the flow. Things will get better with time."

Rosa then wiped away the tears on her face and smiled a little bit. "Thanks, everybody. I don't know what I'd do without you.

* * *

June 17

Vito's Auto Clinic

"Alright", Vito said, "We're gonna finish up this job real quick before we close for the day."

"Right, Boss!" Worker Pete said.

Mechanic Andy nodded in agreement, "We're on it!"

It was getting close to closing time at Vito's Auto Clinic, the auto repair shop that was owned by the Montoya family. The employees were currently working on a damaged truck and were in a hurry trying to get it fixed before the shop shut its doors for the day. Vito was overlooking everything closely, making sure his boys were doing things right.

Meanwhile, with everyone else being good employees and doing what their boss told them to do, Emilio was sitting off to the side in his own little world with thoughts of his new beloved Rosa. Well, maybe it was probably too soon to call her his beloved. He only met her a few hours ago, but he didn't care. Rosa had something that was pulling on Emilio's heartstrings so hard that he couldn't ignore it. After all the time he spent being depressed over his ex-girlfriend, Diana Fengári, he felt happy about a girl again. Even though Rosa was quite stubborn and didn't seem to feel the same way about him, but Emilio was going to try to win her over somehow.

One of Emilio's other friends, Dave, looked over at him in confusion and worry. He looked over at everyone else and asked, "What's wrong with Emilio? He's been acting funny all day. The break didn't help?"

Wallace shook his head and answered, "He's got himself wrapped up in another girl... Right after that bitch Diana cheated on him and left him in the dust!"

Pete nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Al told me that while he was here during the morning shift. I felt sorry for him, being so heartbroken for such a long time."

Dave was curious. He had no idea that Emilio had found himself another girl to fawn over, so he decided to ask about it. "Who's the girl? This is the first time I've heard about this."

"Wouldn't you know it", Pete laughed, "It's a friend of Al's girlfriend. Rosa Kitaki I think."

The boy's eyes got wide in shock. "Huh? Rosa... Kitaki? I remember hearing my parents say that the Kitakis were a reformed mafia family and they opened up a baking business to make..."

Dave did air quotes as he said, "Clean money."

"Well, duh, everyone knows that", Wallace added in, "Next to the Cadaverinis, the Kitakis were the biggest names in the organized crime world of L.A.!"

"Emilio's got some serious balls to go after someone from mafia blood", Dave said with a tinge of worry in his voice.

Vito saw the workers talking and Emilio daydreaming so he decided to see what the heck was going on.

"What do you all think you're doing? Goofing off at a time like this, we're running out of time!"

"I'm sorry, Boss!" Dave said apologetically, "I was just asking the guys about that girl Emilio likes."

Vito immediately started to get annoyed and went over to his son and gently bopped him on the head with his rolled up newspaper to get his attention.

"Emilio", He barked, "Get your head outta your ass and help us!"

Emilio looked up at him wildly and in a daze, trying to get his mind back into reality. "A-Ah! Sorry dad. I'm just a little... Off today."

His dad just rolled his eyes. Vito too knew about Emilio meeting Rosa, and he was upset about her possibly getting in the way of him getting any work done around the shop.

"I knew it was a bad idea to let you skip work", Vito growled angrily, "I should've made you stay here, but no, your mother wanted me to let you take a day off! And now look what happens! You've fallen into another girl's trap! I thought after Diana you would've opened your eyes, son!"

Emilio just looked down sadly, and all he could muster to say was, "Dad..."

"... Look", His father said gruffly after a pause, "You've been on a roll recently here. You're starting to become really good at fixing these cars. But this one day had to go and mess up your equilibrium!"

Vito's son just looked up at him and tilted his head like a confused puppy. "My what?"

"Your concentration, son!" The older man answered, "You just recovered from Diana dumping you and you started to get your groove back... And now you've got this Rosa girl and she's breaking your rhythm again!"

"Dad, it's fine!" Emilio said sternly, "Nothing is going to stop me from doing this job well! I've been doing this with you my whole life. I love it, and I won't just abandon it."

"You better keep your word on that, Emilio. I'll be making sure you do." After that Vito sighed and rubbed his forehead.

Pete decided to interrupt awkwardly with, "... Sorry to interrupt, but it's getting really close to closing time."

Mr. Montoya threw his hands up in the air in frustration. His blood pressure was beginning to rise and his patience was growing thin. "Forget that! We'll stay over now if we have to! We have to get this job done!"

The older man ushered his son over to the truck in need of fixing and they proceeded to to the best they could with the rest of the crew to finish repairing it. The air was silent after that...

Until Morela decided to walk in and start up the drama all over again.

"What are you two arguing about in here?" She asked in a questioning voice, starting right at Vito and Emilio.

Vito looked at his wife and started to sweat nervously. Morela was a force to be reckoned with when she was crossed.

"It's nothing, Mo", He answered with a sheepish laugh, "Emilio was just goofing off again."

Morela placed her hand on her hip and forced her attention on Vito even more intensely, all while leaning into him and wagging her index finger at him. "Don't lie to me, Vito, I heard you getting frustrated at Emilio!"

"I'm worried that girl he met today is gonna distract him from doing anything around here!" Vito shouted.

Morela yelled at him back, "Vito, he only just met her today! I doubt she's going to do any harm this fast!"

The argument continued in front of the workers and Emilio, who just looked on in embarrassment and horror. Lately, Vito and Morela had been going at each other's throats about various things, and the biggest thing at that point in time was Emilio. They both cared about him so much that they would get into confrontations about what they think is best for him. As what Emilio always did during these debates, he would always leave the area and head to his room and lock himself there until things quieted down.

Now look what you did, Mo!" Vito said when he saw Emilio head out of the garage and through the lobby to head back to their home next door, "This is all your fault!"

"It was YOUR fault you dingus!" Morela snapped, "You need to stop worrying about our son so much!"

"But Mo-"

Morela turned her heel and proceed to leave the room as well. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

After that was said and done, Dave looked around suspiciously and murmured, "... Maybe we should go now?"

Vito turned to his employee and answered, "With all this going on I can't concentrate! Yeah, you better go on home. I'll shut operations down today."

The workers then left and Vito was left to close down the garage for the day.

"God", He sighed, "Both my wife and my son are so stubborn!"


	8. Chapter 7

June 17, 5:30 PM

Montoya Residence

During the aftermath of the fight that his parents had back at the shop, Emilio lied on the bed staring up at the ceiling. Erika was curled up next to him sleeping, but Emilio was far from relaxed enough to take a nap himself. His mind was reeling about what his parents were saying about him. Was he really starting to slack off just because of a girl that he only knew for less than a day?

"_Dad is so stupid", _Emilio thought to himself, _"How could he say stuff like that about Rosa? He hasn't even met her! Yeah, I know I've barely met her myself, but it ain't fair! I love my job, and I ain't gonna stop working just 'cause a beautiful girl graced me with her presence. Speaking of which, I'm gonna go see what she's doing."_

Emilio immediately grabbed his laptop and placed it on his bed with him. He logged on to Guisefolio and becomes crestfallen when he saw that Rosa wasn't available to use the chat function with. He sighed in disappointment and decided to just send her a private message instead. He looked up from the screen and saw that Erika was undisturbed by his shuffling, so he shut the laptop and flopped down on his bed. Emilio started thinking again as he was head first in his pillow in frustration.

"_I really hope this works out. I really loved Diana when we were together, but everything went to hell when she decided to stab me right in the heart. The first time I saw Rosa, it felt like I was given another chance."_

The denim and leather wearing male suddenly jumped up and tried to snap himself out of his slump.

"_I'm gonna really have to step up my game this time. Put on all the charms, the moves... Everything to impress her. Though, from what I saw, she ain't gonna be easy to please. Though I'll find a weak spot eventually. No woman can resist this!"_

He then stepped in front of his mirror and started making poses and talking to his reflection as if Rosa was there with him.

"What's that, Rosie?" He said in an alluring way while flexing his muscles, "You like what you see? Well, you're gonna have to get closer if you want a better look..."

"Well", A voice said with a laugh, "You seem to be feeling a lot better."

Emilio turned around wildly and jumped when he saw Morela standing in the doorway laughing at him.

"MOM!" He shouted, "Wha-?"

"I just wanted to come in and say sorry about what happened earlier", She interrupted as her laughter calmed down a bit, "I just get frustrated when your father pushes you so hard at work."

"I know, Mom", Emilio said while scratching his neck in embarrassment.

"Ever since you broke up with Diana, we worried about you", Mrs. Montoya sighed, "Especially your father. He wants you to succeed in this business so badly."

"I would never let Dad down no matter what", Her son replied, "I don't know why he can't trust me."

Emilio's mother shook her head. "It's because of this whole Rosa thing, I know it. He was not happy at all about it, was he?"

"No", He said, "He thinks that she'll be like Diana, but I don't think it's true! I have faith."

Morela smiled sweetly at Emilio and patted him on the shoulder. "That's great! Hopefully Vito will lighten up about this. From what you've shown me of Rosa so far on Guisefolio, she is so lovely. But also a bit of a hardass."

"Don't worry about that, Mom", Emilio quipped in a cocky voice, "I'll soften her up eventually."

"Aye", Morela giggled, "You're so boastful when it comes to the ladies."

"I have to be!" He smiled, "They're tough, man, and they only want the best!"

His mom laughed at him again and said through tears, "You're so much like your dad it's terrifying!"

While they were speaking they left for the living room to see if Vito had come back from the shot yet. Indeed he did, and he was at his usual post on the couch reading a magazine. He looked up and saw his wife and his son coming in, so he decided to talk to them.

"Hey son", He said awkwardly, "Sorry about yellin' at ya earlier. And sorry to you too, Mo. I've been dealin' with a lot of stress."

Morela went up to her husband and started rubbing his shoulders. "I know, hon, I know. How about I make you some tea for your nerves?"

"Thanks, Mo", He said with a small smile on his face as Morela went to put the kettle on the stove.

"Hey", Emilio spoke up, "I'm gonna try to hang out with Rosa tomorrow. I asked her online but I haven't gotten anything back yet."

"You're not gonna try to skip work, are you?" Vito said to him with a glare in his eyes.

Emilio shook his head wildly and tried to ease his father's fears."No, no, of course not! It's gonna be afterwards, if that's OK with you guys."

Morela came back in the room while she was saying, "Where are you two going to go at five o'clock in the evening?"

"Are you kidding, Mom?" Emilio asked in shock, "We could go to all kinds of places! Dinner, a movie, riding around on my bike, a picnic-"

Vito started waving his hands in the air as protest to get his son to quit talking. "Alright, alright, we get the idea!"

"That sounds more like a date than a hangout, Emilio", Morela answered with a wink.

Emilio's face turned beet red at his mom's comment. Sure, he wished that this could be a date, but he knew that Rosa wouldn't want to see it that way from how she acted around him. "N-No, it ain't gonna be a date, I swear!"

"Just don't do anything stupid, OK?" His dad asked in contempt.

Emilio nodded. "Dad, don't worry about it! I'll be fine!"

Morela picked up the phone and was about to dial a number. Before she did though she asked her family, "Now that we have that out of the way, why don't we get something going for dinner? How about we order pizza?"

Both of the boys agreed and so they decided to have pizza for dinner.

June 17

Gatewater Mall

Rosa had decided to go to the mall with Fee, Klaus and even the Belmont Sisters after they begged and begged to go with her. They were walking away from the food court after having something to eat from the burger joint that was there, and decided to step through the exit doors and walk around the outside of the mall where there were even more shops around. All six of them were carrying bags of things that they bought from some of the shops and the drinks that they ordered from the food court.

"That food was really good, wasn't it?" Fee asked while she was sipping the blueberry ice slush that she had in her hands, "I'd go to that place again. The salad and chicken sandwich was really good!"

Klaus gave her a neutral look and scratched his head. "Eh, it was alright. At least it's a step above the food at Gatewater Land."

"The milkshakes are, like, amazing!" Bunny blurted out.

"Yeah!" Bambi agreed.

"I wish they had, like, vanilla flavor though", Belina said while running a spoon through her chocolate flavored milkshake.

Rosa, however, remained silent while staring at her strawberry milkshake like it had just committed a murder. Fee looked at her in concern and when they found a umbrella table and chairs to sit at she started to talk to her.

"What's wrong, Rosa? You've been quiet for a while."

"It's nothing, Fee", The vulpine girl answered, "I've just been really stressed out today."

Bambi turned her head to her, her blond waves bouncing as she did. She put a hand to her arm and said, "You're usually so happy on your days off. Like, is there something bothering you?"

"Umm", Rosa stammered.

Before she could answer though, Klaus said, "Don't worry about it, _Röslein_."

Suddenly a cute tune began to play on Rosa's phone, causing her to flinch. She looked at what the alert was and she froze in place.

"_Hey, it's me again. I just wanna ask you if you're doing anything tomorrow. I wanna hang out. - Emilio"_

"Um, are you OK?" Fee asked in a worried tone.

"It's... Oh no... Not him again."

The triplets perked their head up wildly when they heard the word, "_Him?"_

"Some... Some guy that tried to hit on me today", Rosa said in shame, "I stupidly gave him my Guisefolio information and he's sent me his second message since then."

Everyone went silent for a few seconds, until the sisters exploded into a fit of excitement and squealing like excited girls at a Gavinner's concert.

"WHAT? LIKE, OH MY GOD!"

"Oh boy", Fee said while rolling her eyes, "Here we go."

The three girls began to huddle around Rosa trying to see her phone to read what the message said. Though their efforts were fruitless because Rosa was shoving them off of her like nobody's business.

"Hey", She shouted, "Get away from me you rubber necks!"

"Aww, we just wanna see!" Bambi whined. "This is like, so exciting!"

"I knew it would, like, happen to you someday!" Belina cheered while clapping her hands together like a child.

"What?" Rosa asked innocently.

"That you would get a guy, Rosie!" Bunny tittered, "This is, like, the best news I've heard all day! We're so happy for you!"

The Belmont sisters squealed again and piled a hug on the pink wearing Kitaki daughter. Soon Rosa shoved them off of her and started to get mad.

"Eek!" She squeaked, "Would you guys chill out? I haven't even given him any response yet!"

The girls let her go while Rosa tried to regain her composure and read the note again. She sighed and wasn't sure what to say back. She hadn't been in this kind of situation before so she really didn't know what to do. She sat in silence trying to think of what to do, but nothing came. Klaus decided to speak up and ask her about the message.

"So, what did he say in the message, Rosa?" The brown haired boy asked coolly while adjusting his glasses to get a better view of his female friend. Rosa tilted her head sideways and looked in the opposite direction.

"Oh, right", She answered, "I forgot to say that, didn't I? Well ... He says he wants to hang out tomorrow. But he didn't say where or anything."

Klaus shrugged. "Maybe he wants you to pick the place."

"But I don't know what to pick!" Rosa shouted in a childish way, making the triplets giggle at how cute she was being.

"Tell him to pick something, I guess", Fee responded while stirring her straw around her melted slushy. She herself wasn't really knowledgeable about what to do with guys asking her out, because hey, she was always too busy with her music lessons to really focus on stuff like that. And she didn't think her father would allow her to date at age fifteen anyway.

While they were talking, Rosa had typed up her message. Bambi looked over her shoulder curiously trying to see what she was saying. "What are you saying to him?"

"I just said that I would go with anything that he chooses", Rosa answered blankly. She was really out of her element here, so she decided with her dad's advice on everything: _"You just hang loose and let  
things go with the flow." _However, she felt far from hanging loose- she felt more like a knotted up rope that had no hope of being untangled.

"Oooh, this is so great!" Bambi cheered excitedly, "Like, it was just yesterday that you were being so cold about this kind of stuff!"

"Now you've found someone to, like, get along with!" Belina said with a smile.

The triplets all sighed dreamily in unison, which made Rosa look at them like she wanted to crawl under the table and die. This was the worst possible time to get sent a message asking to hang out. Fee and Klaus just looked on quietly feeling bad for the airheaded girls embarrassing their high strung friend. It was going to take a lot of time for Rosa to warm up to this Emilio guy and they knew it, so all they could do was be supportive in the best way they could.

Rosa's face was red like it always was during her fits of anger and shyness and started to shout at everyone. "Look, guys, this isn't gonna be a date or anything. I agreed to just be friends with him. Keyword: FRIENDS. Nothing else. Just friends. That's all."

"We understand, Rosa", Fee said.

Klaus smiled calmly and chuckled a little. "Just give us a call if anything goes wrong. We'll bail you out."

"Thanks, guys", Rosa breathed in relief. She knew that Fee and Klaus would be helpful to her, but the Belmont sisters were just going to act annoying and stupid about the whole thing. A moment later Rosa's ringtone started to play again and her heart jumped out her chest in surprise. She looked at her phone and read the message that she had gotten.

"_Heh, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me. How about we meet up at the park again around six? -Emilio"_

Rosa started to feel a lump forming in her throat. Now things were getting even more complicated. "Uh oh..."

Everyone looked at Rosa curiously as if to say, "What's up?"

"I'm not sure if I can meet him at six o'clock", The Kitaki daughter answered, "I'm going to be at work tomorrow."

Bunny smiled in a way to comfort Rosa and put her hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we can help you convince your dad to, like, let you go."

Rosa looked at her wide eyed and scoffed at her comment. "You're joking, right? He would NOT let me get off work early just to do this!"

"We could help you convince him", The blonde girl winked.

Rosa shook her head furiously in denial. "No, I have to do this myself. I honestly can't believe that I'm going to convince my father to let me... Hang out with a guy that only met today."

"We're proud of you", Belina congratulated, "You're, like, getting out of your shell!"

"You would've never agreed to do this before", Bambi added curiously, "Like, what was so different about Emilio, hm?"

The brown haired girl's face brightened red again through her tanned skin. "I dunno..."

"Oooh, you're blushing!" Bambi giggled, "Is he cute, Rosie?"

"I'm not really good at judging stuff like that", Rosa answered while looking off to the side bashfully.

"Those triplets like to gather around Rosa like a bunch of birds, don't they?" Fee whispered to Klaus over the table.

"Yeah", Klaus said, "They're really annoying sometimes, but I think they mean well."

Fee nodded in agreement and said, "You're right."

They both then looked back to the four girls squabbling about Emilio's little love notes.

"C'mon, show us what he looks like!" Bunny begged while trying to grab Rosa's pink phone from her once again.

"I'd rather not", Rosa said in protest.

Belina stuck out her tounge and whined, "Aww, you're no fun!"

Bambi winked at Rosa and cooed, "Oh, I think we'll find out soon enough."

Rosa put her head in her hands in defeat, confusion and frustration. "Ugh. I'm just gonna tell Emilio that I have to talk to my dad first." She then sat up and typed in her last message for the moment. After doing so, she put her hand on her forehead and sighed.

"What have I gotten myself into?" She asked herself.

"Rosa", Klaus laughed, "You worry too much. You'll be fine."

The girl then stood up and decided that she wanted to go home. "Maybe we should head back to my place."

Fee nodded. "Sure, I'm fine with that. Mom and Dad let me have a break from practicing today."

"I'll join too", Klaus said as he picked up his belongings, "I don't have anything better to do."

All three of the Belmont sisters got really excited and shouted, "Yeah, your house is great! Let's go!"

June 17

Kitaki Mansion

Rosa and her friends arrived at the mansion and they walked through the door and into the living room. They saw Pearl there sitting on the couch watching TV having some downtime to herself. When she saw the group come in she stood up and greeted them.

"Oh, welcome back!" She said, "How was the mall?"

"It was alright", Rosa said quietly to her mom.

Totally out of the blue Bunny decided to blurt out, "Rosa got asked out by a guy!"

Pearl's eyes widened when she heard this, but when she realized who it could have been she giggled and said, "Is it Emilio Montoya again? He sure has been relentless in pursuing you, hasn't he?"

"That's his name?" Bunny asked in interest, "Ooooh, it sounds, like, so exotic~"

"Not to me", Rosa said sharply.

Belina frowned at what Rosa said. "Aww, why do you have to be, like, such a party pooper all the time?"

"I would probably be nervous if I was meeting up with someone new for the first time", Fee said as she tried to be helpful.

"Me too", Klaus added shortly.

"But-"

"Fee is right, girls. I am nervous about this. Really nervous. It doesn't help that he looks really intimidating. He looks like he's seven inches taller than me!"

"That doesn't sound too bad", Pearl replied, "That's almost the same height difference as me and your father."

Once again, Rosa's phone played its adorable little ringtone indicating that she had a notice to be read. By this point the female dreaded hearing this sound and didn't want to see what was going to be said this time.

"Uh oh", She groaned, "I bet he said something again..."

Rosa reluctantly opened the phone while everyone in the room was looking at her expectantly. She read the message and felt like she was going to throw up.

"_How about I come up to where you work so your dad can see me? -Emilio"_

"Dammit!" She cursed.

"What happened, Rosa?" Fee asked honestly.

"He... He says he wants to go to the shop tomorrow to see Papa!" Rosa shouted angrily.

This caused the Belmont sisters to squeal, squawk and scream excitedly like a bunch of elementary school kids high on sugar. They piled up on Rosa again hugging her like crazy and congratulating her mindlessly.

"We are SO not gonna skip work tomorrow!" Bambi shouted, "We, like, HAVE to see this!"

"Like, this just keeps getting better and better!" Bunny screamed.

It's like we're watching a romantic plot unfold!" Belina tittered.

Upon hearing all this chaos, Rosa's grandparents came walking in to see what was going on.

"What's with all the yelling?" Winfred asked grumpily with a sleep mask on his forehead, "I was taking a nap."

"Oh", Pearl responded, "Rosa's new friend said that he was going to find the bakery tomorrow and talk to Wocky about Emilio taking Rosa out."

"Mama", Rosa growled. "He's not taking me out! We're just going out as FRIENDS."

"I hope Wocky doesn't give him a hard time", Plum added, "Maybe we should give him a heads up?"

"Yes, we should tell Wocky about this", Pearl agreed.

While they were typing, Rosa typed up her message to Emilio and closed her phone. She then put her hands in her pockets and sighed.

"Let's hope he doesn't overreact too much", Winfred said.

"Knowing how Wocky can be", Pearl answered, "Yeah, there's a possibility that he will."

"_Uuugh", _Rosa thought, _"This really sucks!"_

_A few hours later..._

The Kitaki's mansion was quiet at this hour. Rosa, William and the grandparents had already gone to bed. Pearl was in her bedroom reading a book waiting for Wocky to come back from his late shift at the bakery. Soon enough, she heard his footsteps through the hallway and into the room. Even after being married to Wocky for almost twenty years, Pearl still felt a little flutter in her heart every time he came home from a long day at work.

"Yo", Wocky said when he came into the room and kissed his wife, "How's everything this evening?"

"Just fine, Wocky", Pearl said with a smile. She wanted to tell him about what happened with Rosa, but she felt like that he had to be really calm before she did, or else he would get really fired up and start yelling. So, she began to flirt with him a bit by putting her arms around him and acting cute. He usually liked it, but at this moment he was confused.

"Why're you actin' so cuddly, Pea?" Wocky asked while he was trying to take off his work clothes with Pearl hanging onto him.

"I just want you to be relaxed before I tell you something really important", Pearl murmured in her husband's ear softly.

He looked at her bewildered. "What? What happened? You want somethin', doncha?"

She laughed in her usual refined way and answered, "This isn't about me, Wocky. It's about Rosa."

By now they were in the bed underneath the covers, but Wocky was too worried to go to sleep now

since he just heard his daughter's name mentioned. "Huh? What's up with Rosa?"

Pearl leaned on her side to face Wocky and sighed before she spoke. "Remember earlier when I called you about that boy, Emilio Montoya? You know, the one that Rosa met today?"

"Yeah", Wocky asked, "What about it?" Upon hearing the name 'Emilio Montoya', his blood was beginning to boil.

"Well", Pearl began, "He sent a message to Rosa saying that he's going to show up at the bakery tomorrow to get your blessing, it looks like."

Wocky went dead silent when she finished speaking. Pearl looked at him in concern and asked, "Wocky?"

"A blessing?" Wocky barked suddenly, "A... BLESSING?"

"Wocky", Pearl pleaded, "Please, just calm down!"

"Dom told me about that Emilio today", The man answered, "And I didn't like what I heard ONE BIT!"

Pearl gave him a skeptical look. She always knew that more likely than not Wocky's friends and co-workers usually told him a bunch of tall tales about certain things. "What did he tell you?"

"He said that boy was a motorcycle gang leader!" Her husband spat/

Pearl shrugged and agreed with what he said. "I could tell, I saw his picture on Guisefolio."

Wocky's eyes grew wide when he heard this. Of course he wanted to know what this guy look like so he demanded, "Show me this picture. Now."

His wife rolled her eyes and went over to the desk in the bedroom and turned the computer on. After waiting a while for the thing to boot up she went on Guisefolio and searched for Emilio's page. When she found the picture she called Wocky over to the computer and showed it to him. Wocky took one look and was disgusted at what he saw.

"Oh god", He said, "I can smell trouble all over him just by LOOKING at him!"

Pearl glared at him and huffed in frustration. "Oh, for the love of... Would you stop being so judgemental?"

"Look at the guy, Pearl", Wocky retorted while looking at the picture, "He's wearing leather! And he even has a chain coming out of his pocket!"

"Do you have any idea of what YOU were like when you were younger?" Pearl snapped back, "You weren't exactly perfect looking either!"

Wocky went dead silent after her comment. Yes, he knew that he wasn't exactly perfect when he was younger, but Pearl just had to hit him where it hurt to prove her point.

"Do you see?" She said a little more gently, "You really should just let this boy come to the shop to see Rosa. Maybe if you saw him and get to know him. you might like him."

Wocky sighed in defeat. "Oh, alright, I'll talk to Rosa about this tomorrow. But you can bet for damn sure I'll be paying extra attention to what happens in the front. And I'll be asking Ralph to be my eyes and ears for when I can't leave my office."

"Don't worry", Pearl said as she put her arm over her husband's shoulder, "Rosa will be fine. Honestly, I would love to see where this goes. Rosa had been really fearful of a romantic relationship for a long time, and now she's finally got a chance to get a real taste of it."

"I'll make sure she doesn't get TOO much of a taste, if you know what I mean", Wocky laughed.

"Wocky!" Pearl shouted as she hit Wocky in the face lightly with her pillow.

"What?" Wocky asked honestly, "I'm more concerned about the guy than her being... You know."

"If she did want to... Go that far, I'm sure she'd ask us for advice about it", She said.

Wocky lied down on his pillow and looked to the side. "Eh... I'd like to hope so, Pea."

"Let's just sleep on it for now, OK?" Pearl said as she turned the light off and put her head down, "We have to be positive and supportive for Rosa during this. She is clearly overwhelmed by all of this and we need to be her pillars of strength!"

"Yeah, I know, I know. Oh boy, tomorrow's gonna be one hell of a day. Night, Pearl."

"Goodnight, Wocky."


End file.
